It’s been 20 years since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalized same-sex marriage in the commonwealth. NBC10 Boston political reporter Matt Prichard sat down with former chief justice Margaret Marshall to look back at that decision and the impact it’s had over the last two decades.
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Over the course of a decades-long career, one case has stood the test of time.
“I wrote many hundreds of opinions, but there is one decision that comes up every 20 years and it’s this one,” says former Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice, Margaret Marshall.
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In 2003, Justice Marshall authored the Goodridge majority opinion which legalized same sex marriage in the Commonwealth.
Twenty years later, she sat down with NBC10 Boston to reflect on the case and the different arguments that were brought before the court.
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“The question was under the Massachusetts constitution, if the state, if the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was providing these significant benefits, but also protections and responsibilities to one set of people, couples, should they be, could they deny it to another?”
That line of legal reasoning led Justice Marshall and others on the court to conclude the governmental institution of marriage should be opened to all couples, but the historic nature of the ruling wasn’t immediately realized.
“I knew there was some interest,” said Justice Marshall, “I had no idea it would have the national ramifications, let alone international ramifications.”
That frame of mind stems from how Supreme Judicial Court Justices approach their day-to-day case load.
“Sometimes I would walk onto the bench, and I wouldn’t know why the courtroom was packed. I had read all the cases and I would wonder; did I miss something today?” remarked Justice Marshall, “If you’re a Justice, you close one set of briefs, you open the next set of briefs, you invite counsel to oral argument and you just focus. Just focus on that case.”
Even so, criticism and praise were swift after the ruling was released.
“It was a very difficult time,” said Justice Marshall, “It’s part of my job. I’ve been criticized for many decisions, probably none as vehemently as this one, but even today 20-years later people will come up to me and thank me, and my answer is the same. It’s not me, it’s the constitution.”
As a result, Justice Marshall doesn’t see herself as a hero of the LGBTQ+ community. Instead, she calls Goodridge just one piece of an overall government response, beginning with the judiciary and giving way to legislative and executive action.
“From my point of view, it was all three branches eventually responding to the people to permit same sex marriage in Massachusetts,” said Justice Marshall.
