Judge Who Brought Marriage Equality to the West Dies at 87

A federal appeals court judge who helped bring down California's Proposition 8 and made other pro-marriage equality rulings has died.

Stephen Reinhart, a judge on the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, died Thursday at age 87, CNN reports. He was visiting a dermatologist's office when he died unexpectedly, two days after his birthday. His death means that Donald Trump will have another federal court vacancy to fill, likely with someone far different from the staunchly liberal Reinhardt.

In 2012, Reinhardt wrote for the court majority in a decision that upheld U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling in the trial court that Prop. 8, a state constitutional amendment that rescinded marriage equality in California, violated the U.S. Constitution. Voters had approved the amendment in 2008 to nullify a California Supreme Court ruling giving same-sex couples legal marriage rights.

"Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples," he wrote, rejecting Prop. 8 proponents' arguments that the measure was about religious freedom or protecting children.

Prop. 8 supporters appealed the Ninth Circuit ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, as California state officials declined to do so. The high court ruled in 2013 that the proposition's backers did not have legal standing to defend it, so the Ninth Circuit decision stood and Prop. 8 was no more.

In 2014, Reinhart was part of a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel that struck down bans on same-sex marriage in Idaho and Nevada, ruling that those states' bans violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. He wrote that ruling as well, including the following memorable rebuttal to Idaho Gov. Butch Otter's assertion that the stabilizing effect of marriage on opposite-sex would diminish if same-sex couples were allowed to marry:

"He also states, in conclusory fashion, that allowing same-sex marriage will lead opposite-sex couples to abuse alcohol and drugs, engage in extramarital affairs, take on demanding work schedules, and participate in time-consuming hobbies. We seriously doubt that allowing committed same-sex couples to settle down in legally recognized marriages will drive opposite-sex couples to sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll."

In other LGBT rights rulings, Reinhardt upheld a school district's right to enforce a dress code that led to disciplinary action against a student who wore a T-shirt with an antigay message, and ruled that courts could not discriminate against prospective jurors because of their sexual orientation. He frequently ruled in favor of immigrants' rights and abortion rights as well.

He "came into conflict with the Trump administration in recent months, declaring last year that young undocumented immigrants who are unaccompanied have the right to periodic bond hearings as well as a separate decision calling an order to deport a Mexican man 'inhumane,'" The Hill reports. In the latter case, he wrote, "President Trump has claimed that his immigration policies would target the 'bad hombres.' The governments' decision to remove Magana Ortiz shows that even the 'good hombres' are not safe."

President Jimmy Carter appointed Reinhardt to the appeals court in 1979, and the Senate confirmed him in 1980. He was previously an attorney in private practice. Survivors include his wife, Ramona Ripston, who was executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California from 1972 to 2011.