Why Did Margaret Marshall Marry a Man Older Than She, and Say that Most People Marry for "Economic Benefits"?
By MassNews Staff
          Margaret Marshall believes that most people who enter into marriage do so for "economic benefits," not for "love" or to protect their children. That's what Marshall told Atty. General Judith Yogman on Tuesday, March 4, 2003, at Oral Argument in the gay marriage case.
            Here's the text of their debate.
MARSHALL: One way to look at it is: Marriage is always a property relationship and if there were offspring, certain properties follow as a consequence, certain rights, certain obligations towards the offspring. ...
ATTY. YOGMAN: No, Your Honor. Justice Greaney raised a similar point. Although the concept of marriage has changed, it hasn't changed to be purely an economic partnership. It's still based fundamentally ... [interrupted]
MARSHALL: No, no. I'm not suggesting it's only an economic partnership, but one of the original bases was to recognize that two people in a certain kind of union brought with them certain economic benefits to that, and if there were offspring as a consequence of that union that the benefits flowed in a particular way.
ATTY. YOGMAN: I beg to differ. I think it was the other way around, that the reason that economic benefits are conferred on married couples is to encourage this setting for procreation and childrearing. It's not the other way around.
MARSHALL: It's part and parcel of the same thing, correct?
ATTY. YOGMAN: The benefits that flow from marriage that the state has attached to marriage are because the state wants to encourage this model of marriage where there are one parent of each sex, and the legislature might conceivably believe still today that that is an optimal setting for procreation and childrearing.

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            After this exchange Judge Marshall just sat back and listened as Judge Greaney came to her rescue. Judge Marshall appeared to give up. Atty. Yogman had not permitted Marshall to say that this was mostly an economic decision for people who were getting married.
           Judge Marshall was about 37-years-old when she married the well-known columnist for the New York Times, Anthony Lewis, who was about 15-years-older than she when they married in 1979. Many thought she was seeking stability from his wealth, but they did not expect her to be saying so in open court.