That chill under my feet must have been hell freezing over.

How else does one explain the sight of David Boies and Ted Olson – on the same side of a potentially landmark U.S. Supreme Court hearing.

Both men argued before the High Court against Proposition 8, the California law that bans gay marriage in that state. The justices heard their arguments, asked probing questions of both men and now will deliver their decision that same-sex marriage advocates hope determines that “marriage equality” is guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

What needs our attention today, though, is how the law can bring two opponents together, fighting for the same outcome.

Boies and Olson once opposed each other. Bush v. Gore. Remember that one? Texas Gov. George W. Bush was elected president of the United States in 2000 after a Supreme Court ruling that ended a recount of ballots in Florida. When the counting stopped, Bush had 500-plus more votes than Vice President Al Gore, winning the state’s electoral votes and capturing the presidency by a narrow Electoral College majority.

Boies represented Gore; Olson represented Bush. Thus, the men – two top-flight lawyers – had been described as bitter legal rivals.

Then a funny thing happened. California voters approved Proposition 8 in 2008 and more than four years later, Olson – who went on to serve as solicitor general in the Bush administration – ended up arguing alongside Boies that marriage equality is a fundamental right of every American citizen.

Some alliances simply defy description. This is one of them.