Harvard students grill Starr about role in Prop 8 case

Kenneth Starr, who achieved national notoriety as the independent council in the Bill Clinton impeachment case, came to Harvard Law School Feb. 12 to give a speech to the Harvard Federalist Society on business cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. But a group of LGBT and allied law students questioned Starr about another matter, his role in the ongoing litigation over California's Proposition 8.

Starr, the dean of Pepperdine University School of Law, is currently representing the backers of Prop 8, which ended same-sex marriage in California last November, in a case to be argued before the California Supreme Court on March 5. Prop 8 proponents are fighting efforts by LGBT advocates to overturn the ballot initiative, and they are also asking the court to nullify all the same-sex marriages performed in California before the passage of Prop 8.

Starr's speech drew a standing-room-only crowd of about 60 students at the Harvard Law School function room. As the students filed through the doors about a half-dozen protestors stood outside, quietly handing out a one-page flyer detailing Starr's role in the Prop 8 lawsuit. They had conversations with some of the attendees who asked about the reasons for their protest, but they made no efforts to disrupt the speech or dissuade people from attending. Alex Crohn, a third-year law student and a member of HLS Lambda, the law school's LGBT student group, said the students decided to hold a protest to confront Starr and ask him why he chose to represent the Prop 8 proponents. HLS Lambda organized the protest in partnership with another student group, Advocates for Human Rights.

"There's very little things that Ken Starr has said that are anti-gay. Our concern is more that he chose to take this case on himself," said Crohn. "His views on the underlying policy of Proposition 8 are unclear, but as far as his decision to enforce this law, as opposed to other laws, or to uphold the constitutionality of other referendums, he decided to further this law, which has a very obvious antigay effect. And if you don't believe in the underlying law you don't need to be the head counsel of the group trying to uphold its constitutionality."

Crohn said the movement to secure marriage rights for same-sex couples has its supporters and detractors within the law school's LGBT community, but he believes it is essential to fight back against anti-gay measures like Prop 8.

"I think it is important to confront these issues head on, especially because they've been forced upon us," said Crohn.

Starr made no reference to same-sex marriage during his formal remarks, focusing instead on the talk's official theme, business cases before the Supreme Court. But during a post-talk question and answer session he took questions on a wide range of topics. One student who had been part of the protest outside the function room asked Starr why he chose to represent the Prop 8 proponents and why he supported their efforts to nullify the marriages of same-sex couples who got married before the referendum's passage.

Starr seemed unfazed by the question. He said his reason for taking the case "has to deal with the intent of the people. ... The intent of the people was a complete restoration of the original definition [of marriage]."

He argued that California's tradition of "progressive populism" led the state to create a comparatively easy process for amending the state constitution by a majority referendum vote, and he said that amendment system was designed as a check on the power of public officials.

Starr declined to speak in detail about the arguments he will make before the California Supreme Court.

"I think our briefs are correct. We'll see what the California Supreme Court says," said Starr.

Following Starr's answer there was no further discussion of Prop 8. When asked about his past high profile roles he said his work as independent counsel in the Clinton case was among the most exciting times in his career, but he described his work as a federal judge during the 1980s as one of his most rewarding jobs.