The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reaffirmed its ruling in favor of same-sex marriage Feb. 4, touching off a new wave of celebration among civil rights advocates that began the previous June with the U.S. Supreme Court’s gay rights decision in Lawrence v. Texas. Nevertheless, it was becoming increasingly clear that Lawrence had not launched a straight-line march toward expansion of gay rights through litigation. Recent lower court decisions from other states suggested a more complicated path. “There are so many positive and negative things happening,” said Paul Smith, the Jenner & Block partner who argued and won Lawrence. “The picture changes every day.”
San Francisco lawyer Allen Kent was a no-show at a California Supreme Court hearing, and his client, Raul Aguilar, had no idea where he was. Kent’s nonappearance had Supreme Court Clerk Frederick Ohlrich making frantic telephone calls until he reached Aguilar — Kent’s boss at the firm of Aguilar & Sebastinelli — who said he hadn’t seen Kent since the lawyer “walked out” of the firm’s offices the day before. In a brief voice mail message left for a reporter, Kent maintained that he had been “constructively terminated” from the Aguilar firm. “Nobody showed up, huh? Gee, sorry to hear that,” Kent said.
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