Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/calif-gay-marriages-raise-legal-questions-nationwide Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The laws governing marriage nationwide are a complicated state-by-state patchwork, with little or no interstate recognition. The recent ruling in California legalizing same-sex marriage adds another layer of complexity to the legal landscape. Legal experts examine these questions. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally, Ray Suarez looks at the shifting legal landscape surrounding same-sex partnerships. RAY SUAREZ: With thousands of couples expected to marry in California this summer, it now becomes the second state, along with Massachusetts, to legalize same-sex marriages. It also adds another layer of complexity to a patchwork quilt of laws governing marriage nationwide.In New York, Governor David Paterson has said his state will soon recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. And eight states and the District of Columbia allow for civil unions or provide domestic partnership benefits.But 26 states have constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, and every state other than California or Massachusetts currently have other laws barring same-sex marriages.To understand the legal questions this raises, we turn to two professors of law: John Eastman, dean of the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California; and David Cruz of the University of Southern California School of Law.