Gay Marriage to Alfred: Your Thoughts

Wisconsin and Indiana in:

http://time.com/3270517/court-rules-against-gay-marriage-bans-in-2-states/

Louisiana yesterday a hiccup.

which made its predecessors premature ejaculation

Oh my

Wisconsin AG already talking appeal.

Richard Posner, probably the best writer on any bench or circuit in the United States, tears into the case:

Heterosexuals get drunk and pregnant, producing unwanted children; their reward is to be allowed to marry. Homosexual couples do not produce unwanted children; their reward is to be denied the right to marry. Go figure.

Our pair of cases is rich in detail but ultimately straight- forward to decide. The challenged laws discriminate against a minority defined by an immutable characteristic, and the only rationale that the states put forth with any conviction— that same-sex couples and their children don’t need marriage because same-sex couples can’t produce children, intended or unintended—is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seri- ously. To the extent that children are better off in families in which the parents are married, they are better off whether they are raised by their biological parents or by adoptive parents. The discrimination against same-sex couples is irra- tional, and therefore unconstitutional even if the discrimina- tion is not subjected to heightened scrutiny, which is why we can largely elide the more complex analysis found in more closely balanced equal-protection cases.

We might finally be approaching the endgame:

http://www.joemygod.blogspot.com/2014/09/breaking-supreme-court-lists-all.html

--

Via the Wall Street Journal:

Mark your calendars: the Supreme Court is scheduled to consider its next steps on gay marriage when the justices meet for the first time since their summer break. The court on Wednesday listed gay marriage petitions from five states – Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin – for consideration at its Sept. 29 private conference. Officials in those states are asking the court to decide whether state bans on same-sex marriage are constitutional. The justices use the September meeting to wade through stacks of appeals that pile up during the court’s three-month recess. The court at some point after the conference is expected to add several of those cases to its docket for the term that begins Oct. 6. Court watchers are eagerly awaiting word on whether one or more gay marriages cases will be among them. The court is under no obligation to act right away. It’s possible the court could take additional time to mull its options, particularly because of fast-moving developments in other gay-marriage litigation.

More from USA Today:

By scheduling all for consideration simultaneously, the justices gave equal footing to the Indiana and Wisconsin cases just decided last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. The 10th and 4th Circuits previously ruled in the other cases. The court could agree to hear one or more cases this winter; deny them all, or delay its decision for a while. In all five states, federal district and appellate judges have agreed that state bans on same-sex marriage should be struck down as unconstitutional. But those decisions are on hold pending the Supreme Court's review. Additional gay marriage cases could be added to the justices' list soon. A ruling is expected from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit on cases from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. And just this week, the 9th Circuit heard oral arguments in cases stemming from Idaho and Nevada. Cases from Texas and Florida remain at the appellate court level.

Skinny jeans, please. Ties optional.

Skinny ties, please. Jeans optional.

You play host.

Some snowy night in front of the fire.

Well well

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/06/supreme-court-gay-marriage/16546959/

The Supreme Court refused to get involved in the national debate over same-sex marriage Monday, leaving intact lower court rulings that will legalize the practice in 11 additional states.
The unexpected decision by the justices, announced without further explanation, immediately affects five states in which federal appeals courts had struck down bans against gay marriage: Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Utah.
It also will bring along six other states located in the judicial circuits overseen by those appellate courts: North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming. Lower court judges in those states must abide by their appeals court rulings.

That would make same-sex marriage legal in 30 states and the District of Columbia.

Well, Texas + Florida + Ohio + Georgia + Michigan, I guess.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BzRvoKNIcAA-URg.png

soon enough, boo.

fwiw, a lawyer acquaintance of mine on FB:

"The Supreme Court tends to grant leave only when there's a split in the lower courts -- the 12 Circuit Courts that are one level below them. So far, there hasn't been a split. The Circuit Courts have uniformly held that Windsor establishes the right to gay marriage. Therefore, the USSC has no conflict to decide."

ie if that 6th circuit appeal that is mentioned in the USAT story upholds the ban, the Supremes could get involved then.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a91d0029970b-600wi

Idaho and Nevada now also in after a Ninth Circuit ruling

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2014/10/breaking-ninth-circuit-strikes-down.html

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BzndpUBCMAAIrNk.jpg

Weird fucking day. Okay: North Carolina effectively in, probably all over on Monday. Butch Otter gave up tonight in Idaho, fully in on Monday. West Virginia stopped fighting as well. Kansas, no decision at the earliest until November. Arizona and Alaska, POSSIBLY next week. South Carolina is a muddle. Case up for review in Wyoming, that decision might happen quickly. And I think Montana is in there somewhere as well?

and no Florida!

WELL GET ON IT oh wait

I have.

Cal Thomas's flailing, excuse-filled but comprehensive admitting of surrender on this issue is beyond schadenfreude. Only thing I'll give this clown is that he's not pulling a Huckabee and pretending there's still a chance.

http://touch.baltimoresun.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81640163/

Point 3: The main arguments against permitting same-sex couples to marry are moral and biblical. The problem, especially for conservative Christians who oppose the legalization of gay marriage, is that they are speaking to people who don't accept their moral code, or biblical instruction. They cite Genesis 2:24: "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh." That verse is also quoted by Jesus in the New Testament.

Here's why invoking verses from the Bible isn't working. In addition to the courts having abandoned such instruction, along with, in too many cases, the Constitution that is supposed to constrain government, a growing number of people no longer accept biblical teaching. Many, the products of liberal universities, also regard the C

Paywalled, apparently. That link redirects to the Sun front page. xp

But I found it at his website.

It's at the Sun too; you gotta go to the opinion section.

The suspense will kill you.

having abandoned... the Constitution that is supposed to constrain government

Read the establishment clause of the first amendment, fool.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-the-supreme-courts-nonruling-on-gay-marriage-commentary-20141010,0,2617179.story

If a news link is behind a paywall, put some of the text in quotes and plug it into google.

it's kind of fascinating how egregiously bad his argumentation is

i love the blame laid on 'liberal universities', like the widespread modern fact of the individual right to live one's own life is not like, way more important, and actually american

i would love to see a more naked argument that appealed to authority without the indirection wrt religion and tradition and anarchism and pitted individual liberty against the contention that no, you are not allowed to live your life as you choose, that will be decided elsewhere, in advance

a few years ago some old college friends and i friended each other on facebook and they've since become (revealed as) super catholic and pro-life, but minimally trying not to be offensive about it, and one of the most disturbing things i've ever heard from them is the catholic idea of 'teaching authority', as a thing that some things (whatever, jesus, the church, the bible as interpreted by the church, the pope) have or must have, and as a thing that any other source of life-direction is deluded and helpless without

like jesus what the fuck happened to america man, these people were raised in the same crazy brew of rampant social atomization as everyone else

Rereading T.S. Eliot at the beginning of last week I found the same sad shaking of the head, this collapse in a belief in authority.

Meanwhile in loonville

http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2014/10/abbott-texas-gay-marriage-ban-reduces-out-of-wedlock-births/

The county near me in Idaho (one of the two that went for Obama in 2008) is the first to issue marriage licenses in the state. One of the women in this photo let me take the old 1950s hair dryer that was near their dumpster:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/11/us/politics/supreme-court-lifts-stay-on-same-sex-marriages-in-idaho.html

xp wow that's some pretty advanced nonsense. this brief is one of those things people a hundred years from now are going to put in textbooks as examples of how uncivilized we were

"were"

Mm.

Anyway, Alaska:

http://www.adn.com/article/20141012/federal-judge-rules-alaskas-same-sex-marriage-ban-unconstitutional

Okay, Arizona's in

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/breaking_federal_judge_appointed_by_bush_strikes_down_arizona_same_sex_marriage_ban

In the 'zona!

Meantime this post:

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2014/10/sixth-circuit-court-remains-quiet.html

...brings up something I'd been wondering; namely, if the Sixth Circuit has been going "Er" ever since the Supreme Court turned down the other cases that had reached them. No way of knowing but I am curious.

come to me

Wyoming appears to be next, by Monday:

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/gay-marriage-hearing-begins-in-casper/article_c25f4382-bae6-504c-93c1-cd0def51639a.html

A quiet detail there:

About 60 people watched the proceedings, most of whom support same-sex nuptials. In a corner sat Dennis and Judy Shepard, parents of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming college student who was fatally beaten in 1998.

The Great Roberts Punt having its inevitable effect.

http://images.politico.com/global/2012/06/120626_john_roberts1_ap_605.jpg

this facial expression

Further Arizona update -- AG not appealing so it's done and dusted there.

And update, Wyoming is in.

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/judge-strikes-down-same-sex-marriage-ban-in-wyoming/article_7d3d1a03-ac81-5088-b785-ce2eae556b39.html

"bull sex"? well, i'd toddle down to City Hall for some o' that.

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/22/don_young_delivers_shocking_speech_to_high_school_crowd_compares_gay_marriage_to_bull_sex/