Nan Hunter is the Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Law Emerita at Georgetown Law and co-author of the law school textbook Sexuality, Gender and the Law.
The man in the middle raised concerns about overturning millennia of tradition, but he also emphasized the dignity legal marriage confers to same-sex couples.
In the past few days, the Supreme Court has both affirmed and threatened equality in the US.
Gay rights advocates were hoping that the Court would issue a broad ruling, but the justices seem most concerned with issues of standing.
Hollingsworth v. Perry has a chance of being dismissed without a ruling, leaving a better case to serve as the vehicle for the court's opinion on marriage.
If so, there will be a definitive ruling on the constitutionality of the federal law barring recognition of same-sex marriages that are valid under state law.
By the end, several Justices appeared skeptical at best over whether their decision should reach the merits.