What in the world is this   According to Joan Hollinger a professor at the University of California Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law Constitutional scholars agree that the amendment cannot be effective retroactively This is a reference to the prohibition of ex post facto law by Article I Section  of the United States Constitution  Huh  That makes as much sense as quoting a law professor as saying that the amendment would apply on Tuesdays because scholars agree that all amendments apply on Tuesdays unless they specifically say otherwise  The only way this could be more than an irrelevant remark is if there was debate over whether the amendment was retroactive  However no such debate is mentioned in the article  I suspect that the intent of this paragraph was to say that existing marriages cannot be invalidated because laws arent retroactive but that you cant get away with making a WPSYNTH like that so it was whittled down to this pointlessbyitself quote