SCOTUS: Scalia asks about gay adoption

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I personally don't see what the big deal is with two (or three) individuals of the same sex raising a child. In the culture I grew up in, it was quite common for the man to go away for lengthy periods of time working somewhere (say, the Middle East) far away and sending money home while the women of the household raise the children. No, they weren't homosexual but they were same-sex.

JUSTICE SCALIA: Mr. Cooper, let me -- let me give you one -- one concrete thing. I don't know why you don't mention some concrete things. If you redefine marriage to include same-sex couples, you must -- you must permit adoption by same-sex couples, and there's -­ there's considerable disagreement among -- among sociologists as to what the consequences of raising a child in a -- in a single-sex family, whether that is harmful to the child or not. Some States do not -- do not permit adoption by same-sex couples for that reason.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: California -- no, California does.

JUSTICE SCALIA: I don't think we know the answer to that. Do you know the answer to that, whether it -- whether it harms or helps the child?

MR. COOPER: No, Your Honor. And there's -­ there's -­

JUSTICE SCALIA: But that's a possible deleterious effect, isn't it?

MR. COOPER: Your Honor, it -- it is certainly among the -­

JUSTICE GINSBURG: It wouldn't be in California, Mr. Cooper, because that's not an issue, is it? In California, you can have same-sex couples

adopting a child.

MR. COOPER: That's right, Your Honor. That is true. And -- but -- but, Your Honor, here's -­ here's the point -­

JUSTICE SCALIA: I -- it's true, but irrelevant. They're arguing for a nationwide rule which applies to States other than California, that every

State must allow marriage by same-sex couples. And so even though States that believe it is harmful -- and I take no position on whether it's harmful or not, but it is certainly true that -- that there's no scientific answer to that question at this point in time.

MR. COOPER: And -- and that, Your Honor, is the point I am trying to make, and it is the Respondents' responsibility to prove, under rational

basis review, not only that -- that there clearly will be no harm, but that it's beyond debate that there will be no harm.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Mr. Cooper, you are defending -- you are opposing a judgment that applies to California only, not to all of the States.

MR. COOPER: That's true, Your Honor. And if there were a way to cabin the arguments that are being presented to you to California, then the concerns

about redefining marriage in California could be confined to California, but they cannot, Your Honor.

http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/12-144a.pdf