Will
Clarence Thomas, speak, clear his throat or sit like a lump of coal
waiting patiently for Scalia to whisper in his ear....
60%
of people recently polled by ABC news say same sex marriage is okay
in America. That same poll found that 80% of those under 30 support
the idea. Those numbers should make it a done deal, right? Majority
rules, right?
Well,
not exactly. In the Land of the free, home of the brave, very few
decisions are made by majority rule.
Proposition
8 and DOMA are before the United States Supreme Court today and
despite the garbage rhetoric coming from FOX News, the Supreme Court
is not a liberal court by any stretch of the imagination. If it was
we wouldn't be stuck with last year's Citizens United ruling making
corporations people.
For
those of you who don't know, Prop 8 is the measure in California that
revoked same sex marriage. DOMA stands for defense of marriage act.
It was passed on the federal level back in 1996 and signed into law
by a now repentant Bill Clinton. It says that marriage is only for
men and women who marry each other. No boy-boy, or girl on girl
unless its pornography for lesbian-loving straight men.
DOMA
is like all those old sodomy laws that used to be on the books,
outlawing oral or anal sex, but only gays and lesbians were charged
and prosecuted. Straight couples doing exactly the same doggie style
were never criminalized and cited, ever.
So
today, the Supreme Court will hear arguments to overturn both laws.
Actually one will be argued today and the other tomorrow.
Regardless, it will make for an exciting week at the nation's highest
court. Tickets to get inside were at a premium.
However,
one ticket was scarfed up by a cousin of Chief Justice Roberts. Seems
cuz is a lesbian and wants her big cousin to act like Ohio Senator
Rob Portman and support his family. She says she wants to get
married legally in the near future.
U.S. Supreme Court |
Of
course, no one has any idea what Chief Roberts is thinking, nor any
of the other Associate Justices for that matter. Insiders will start
guessing when they start asking questions during arguments.
Have
to admit, I'm curious about how Justice Thomas will vote, especially
since his own marriage to a white woman used to be illegal. Wonder if
he will throw off his chains of servitude and vote like a proud Black
man for a change.
The
intellectual machinations of all the possible rulings in these two
cases is mind boggling, so I'm just gonna pop some corn and wait for
the outcome. I will say this, I don't see how the Court can frame
this so narrowly that it won't take into account just how mobile our
society is. In other words how can you make law that applies to one
state but not another. I mean, if a couple is legally married in
Omaha, they should also be legally married in Ohio, right?
It
was like that in the interracial marriage ban, Loving vs Virginia.
Once that law was struck down, it was made to apply to the whole
country, not just Virginia. The same thing
should logically happen with Prop 8 and DOMA.
I
honestly see it falling this way, Alito, Scalia and possibly Thomas
will do what they always do. So will Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan and
Sotomayer. I see Kennedy and Roberts as swing votes.
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