Speaking on behalf of the American Principles Project, Maggie Gallagher had some insight into how “swing vote” Justice Kennedy may lean in the coming Supreme Court cases on Prop 8 and DOMA: “Backers of Proposition 8 say they’re confident Kennedy Continue reading
Just in: New York appeals court strikes down DOMA New York (CNN) — A federal appeals court in New York on Thursday became the nation’s second to deem the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. The divisive Clinton-era law was passed Continue reading
This week, the full 9th Circuit refused to hear any more arguments on gay marriage.
Judge O’Scannlain’s dissent was scathing: “Based on a two-judge majority’s gross misapplication of Romer v. Evans, we have now declared that animus must have been the only conceivable motivation for a sovereign State to have remained committed to a definition of marriage that has existed for millennia,” he said.
Worse, the judge said, the decision overrules the votes of 7 million Californians based on an interpretation of Romer v. Evans that would be “unrecognizable” to those who wrote it.
Wow. It was good to hear from a judge what so many of us feel. It’s not that people disagree with us, it’s the casual disrespect with which people who support Prop 8 are treated: routinely described and treated as haters, bullies and bigots for standing up for marriage as the union of husband and wife.
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The First Circuit has struck down DOMA’s definition of marriage as the union of man and wife. The judges have stayed the decision, recognizing the radical nature of so doing, pending the Supreme Court’s ratification of their view that Congress has no right to define marriage for the purpose of federal law.
Taxpayers of all these United States must pay for what any state deems a marriage, these judges ordered.
William Duncan of the Marriage Law Foundation called it a, “result in search of a rationale.”
We’ve gotten used to these kind of outrages—outrageous violations of the respect owed to the judgment of the people.
What is remarkable is the openess with which the judges in this case carefully analyzed the grounds and sincerely admitted they had no real legal basis to strike down a law . . . but did so anyway. Continue reading
Just 15 years ago, President Clinton signed into law the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). It was passed by huge bipartisan majorities. It is the only federal law to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman and clarifies that no state can be forced to recognize same-sex marriages.
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