"Judge Walker's ruling overturning Prop 8 is an outrageous disrespect for our Constitution and for the majority of people of the United States who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife. In every state of the union from California to Maine to Georgia, where the people have had a chance to vote they've affirmed that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Congress now has the responsibility to act immediately to reaffirm marriage as a union of one man and one woman as our national policy. Today’s notorious decision also underscores the importance of the Senate vote tomorrow on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court because judges who oppose the American people are a growing threat to our society.”Rachel Madow has already answered that, saying:
"The rights of the minority are not supposed to be put up for a vote; they're not a popularity contest. They're supposed to be subjected to the test of constitutionality. . . . That's sort of the big idea in this country. That's the big idea of this country."
Now that's a debate I would like to see: Newt and Rachel.
Ralph
As I read further about what seems such a strongly reason ruling, the likely way it might be overturned on appeal is not accepting that marriage is a basic right and thus subject to equal protection and due process.
ReplyDeleteI can see Scalia and Thomas, maybe also Roberts and Alito, agreeing that there is no constitutional guarantee to marriage, for anyone, and therefore these protections do not apply.
Kennedy will be the crucial swing vote. He was the one who provided the majority to overturn Lawrence, and he wrote the very strong majority opinion -- which said, among other things, that Lawrence could have arisen only out of animus toward homosexuals.
Well, silly old Maggie Gallagher, head of NOW (National Organization for Marriage) and one of the leading proponents of Prop8, has gone ballistic, calling Judge Walker's decision a sign of "Soviet style takeover."
ReplyDeleteGee, it's hard to lose when you're in the "moral majority" and think you're opinions should be the law of the land. They are going to try to foment up a huge backlash.
We may even see it become a big campaign issue again. It'll be interesting to see whether the Tea Party takes this up. So far, except for the fringe, they have focused on the role of government, not social issues.
Of course, maybe silly Maggie isn't so dumb after all. She's framing her bellicose backlash as "government takeover," rather than her usual railing about the effect on children, which the evidence in the trial pretty well disproves.
Let's take Newt at his word:
ReplyDelete"Today’s notorious decision also underscores the importance of the Senate vote tomorrow on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court because judges who oppose the American people are a growing threat to our society.”
And note that the Senate voted 53-37 for the nomination of Elena Kagan. That's a pretty decisive vote against Newt's position, if it did indeed have anything to do with gay marriage.
Go find another parade, Newt.
Another challenge to Newt's newfound anti-Muslim pandering:
ReplyDeleteThe second "ground zero," the Pentagon, has not been intimidated by such pandering. Instead, a Ramadan Muslim prayer service was held actually inside the Pentagon, presided over by a Navy Chaplain imam. More than 100 Department of Defense employees and their families attended.
Further, as Jason Linkins points out in his HuffPost blog, these people work in the Pentagon and presumably have security clearances. What will Newt do with that, I wonder? Muslims with security clearances in the Pentagon? Shades of McCarthy and communists in the State Department.
If the Department of Defense can keep clear that there is a difference in the Muslim religion and the al Qaeda men who planned and attacked us, who were extremists Muslims and not at all representative of the faith -- then the secular world of lower Manhattan should be able to do so as well.