Speak Now: Marriage Equality on Trial

I'll say this book is nearly flawless. The only flaws are a few adverbs and clunky metaphors: the author loves the latter, and some soar. Others land with with a thud and distract you from the flow of the narrative. However, except for these idiosyncrasies, the narrative races. I needed a racing narrative because I wanted to get myself up to speed for the marriage arguments at the Supreme Court that, as of this writing, are coming up in a few days. The author does an excellent job not only in retelling the history of the issue of gay marriage, but also of giving the arguments of opponents of gay marriage - whose positions he obviously disagrees with - an honorable presentation. You do not need to be a lawyer to enjoy this book, as other reviewers have stated. The author assumes you are not, and even explains legal concepts that would entertain non-lawyers and lawyers alike - his explanation of en banc review, for example, which would take too long to explain here, but you'd have to pay attention to enjoy. You have to be intelligent, therefore, and curious about the subject; though if you are intelligent, the book would make you curious about the subject. His discussions of his own family, weaving in and out, do not distract from the book's purpose, and keep the reader interested with a little personal decoration. The best part for me was his summary of the testimony at trial. I wanted to read the transcript of the trial in question, but reading transcripts can be dull; this summary was enough, and I accept the author's veracity given the charitable rendering he gave to the other side, whom for me are the demons. (And by the way, he also gives a good argument for not demonizing these people as bigots.) Finally, he provides trial lawyers like me great language for taking differing positions to trial and exposing them to the trial of "sunlight" that, as (former US Supreme Court Justice Louis) Brandeis said, "is said to be the best of disinfectants." Highly recommended.

Wonderfully written account of the case that brought down Prop 8.What I liked about the book was that not only were issues from the trial discussed, but so were things raised during depositions. This provided a fuller account and context for the trial. There was also a lot of background legal history discussed which was interesting.Highly recommended to anyone interested in LGBT history and litigation.

I absolutely love Speak Now. It breathes life and passion into an otherwise dense legal narrative -- in ways that both lay readers and legal experts will find gripping. And while the book focuses on the trial that brought marriage equality back to California, the author also sets forth a broader (and in my view, very convincing) argument about the benefits of litigation, and especially trials, to uncover the truth more generally. A lot of people assume that trials are useful only for minor or narrow factual disputes and not broad social issues, but Yoshino shows that this isn't the case.Finally, while Yoshino presents and defends a particular perspective on the Prop 8 trial (and trials more generally), the book is also very fair and respectful when it comes to presenting opposing views. The Prop 8 litigation was very controversial among LGBT groups, and Yoshino does a masterful job explaining the competing views among the advocates (and their adversaries).

A truly remarkable read... I have basically no legal training, and I was able to follow the narrative from beginning to end. It's not every day that a layperson can pick up a book about the law and find it a true page-turner! This book provides an important explanation of the legal principles involved, but also tells a compelling story about the personal impact of the debate over same-sex marriage.I came away from this book better educated on the legal system, both in terms of the debate over same-sex marriage AND in terms of the importance of the trial process. I'm inspired with hope for a future in which trials like this can change society for the better.

Yoshino has shown that civil trials concerning so-called "legislative facts" can make all the difference in constitutional litigation. The trail held in San Francisco concerning Proposition 8 showed the weakness of the factual and policy-related grounds for opposing marriage equality. If you want to understand the 2015 decision for marriage equality, this book is a good place to begin.