There's some big news in Marriage Equality today. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Prop 8 case from California and a case involving the Defense of Marriage Act.
The U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue of gay marriage for the first time, agreeing to rule on a California ballot measure banning the practice and a federal law defining marriage as solely an opposite-sex union.
The cases, which the court will decide by June, loom as a potential turning point on one of the country’s most divisive issues. High court review comes as the gay-marriage movement is showing unprecedented momentum, winning victories at the polls in four states this year. Link
This is good news and bad news. The bad news is that this delays resolution for thousands of gay couples in California. Had the Court declined to hear the Prop 8 case, marriage equality would have become available in California immediately. Now they'll have to wait until next June to get a final verdict.
The good news is that if the Supreme Court finds Prop 8 and DOMA unconstitutional, marriage equality will likely become immediately available for EVERYONE in America. No more state referenda, no more conservative legislatures screwing over their own constituents. Momentum is clearly on the side of marriage equality, so I'm not sure this will be worth the risk, though, because they could support marriage discrimination.
For my part, I think it's unlikely the Court will uphold inequality. The bans are pretty clearly a violation of Equal Protection.
Now we just have to wait.
2 comments:
On the other hand, the SC has found that an activity that occurs entirely within a state falls under the interstate commerce clause because it “affects” interstate commerce, and that taking your property from you to give it to someone else who might pay more in taxes is a legitimate use of eminent domain. I don’t think we can count on logic and common sense prevailing.
I never count on that from this Supreme Court.
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