Topic: Ronald George

The tyranny of the majority

By David W. Shelton | June 17, 2008 |

I recently read an article by Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle on Chief Justice Ronald George, who wrote the decision which granted same-sex marriage for California gay couples. It was an in-depth story on the life of this man, and what led to his ultimate belief that equality for all people is a fundamental, constitutional right. One particular segment stood out to me.

In the article, Egelko outlines how George and three other California Supreme Court justices pulled from another marriage quality issue from history, interracial marriage:

George’s same-sex ruling relied heavily on the court’s 1948 decision on interracial marriage, written by a renowned liberal, Justice Roger Traynor. No other state’s court had ever recognized a constitutional right for interracial couples to marry, and the U.S. Supreme Court did not do so until 1967.

A lesson from that case, George said in the interview, was that laws denying “certain basic rights could not be justified just because of history and tradition.”

He recalled a trip with his parents to the still-segregated South as a teenager, when he was shocked to see whites-only signs on drinking fountains and restroom doors.

“It sensitized me to the fact there are minorities of all sorts of types who can be victimized by the majority,” George said. Protecting vulnerable minorities, he said, is “one of the purposes of the courts and of our Constitution.”

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