David Boies (speaking at Commonwealth Club 8/5) Makes Case Against Prop 8 in Chronicle

In the Insight section of yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle, lawyer David Boies made "The Case Against Prop 8" as "Unconstitutional Bias."

Boies, a prominent lawyer who represented former Vice President Al Gore in the post-election Bush v. Gore case and worked on many other high-profile cases, raised a lot of eyebrows when he teamed up with Republican former Solicitor General Theodore Olson to make the legal case against California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in the state.

Calling anti-gay marriage laws "one of the most invidious of the state-sponsored discriminations against gays and lesbians," Boies' Chronicle article provides a legal primer on recent history in anti-gay legislation. He also explains the tactics the team headed by Boies and Olson took in their arguments before the court hearing their Prop. 8 lawsuit.

Read the entire Boies article, and come hear him speak in-person at The Commonwealth Club Thursday, August 5, at 6:00 p.m.

His Club appearance is part of the Geschke Family Series on the U.S. Constitution in the 21st Century.

Nancy Pelosi Addresses Don't Ask, Don't Tell after Commonwealth Club Press Conference

It's only a short exchange, and the camera work is shaky, but this video and these remarks by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi are being quoted quite a bit on various blogs this week.

Following her program at The Commonwealth Club, in which she and Club president Dr. Gloria Duffy had a wide-ranging conversation on everything from the health-care reform bill to nuclear strategy and from education to cutting the deficit, she held a press conference. At the end of the press conference, she was asked by local gay rights advocate Bill Wilson about the prospects for ending the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy of discrimination in the military (thanks to aka William for the link):