The decision striking down DOMA is here; the decision throwing out the Prop. 8 appeal is here.
Sorry, but I'm too swamped at the moment with litigation work to do a full-blown post on them. With regard to the former, I'll just say that it shows how wrong all those members of Congress were when they claimed that Congress had the power to address the issue of same-sex marriages through legislation, when what they really needed to do was to pass a Constitutional amendment. Now the Supreme Court has told them so, and now we have an entirely different Congress and a President who would not support any such amendment. So that's that -- but at least it restores to the States the power that should have been theirs all along.
With regard to the Prop. 8 decision, note how the decision by the Court—to vacate the Ninth Circuit’s too-too-clever finessing of the situation (where it said that Prop. 8 was unconstitutional because it took away from a class of people what the State’s Supreme Court had seen fit to grant them by fiat)—leaves Californians exactly with what they’ve given themselves. They have elected a Supreme Court which champions gay rights, and a Governor and attorney general who can’t be bothered to defend the people’s initiative on an appeal, because they disagree with the majority who enacted it. There’s hardly any room left for outrage, given the actors Californians have chosen for themselves.
I've already covered what could happen now in this earlier post (plus another one linked there), and I have nothing to add. You'll find all you need to know there.
AC -when you do have time, it would be very interesting to hear your views about how this will play out in the different states. In 11 or 12 states SSM is legal, in the rest of the states it is not. Does that mean the federal govt. will recognise the marriages, and give all of the benefits, to SS couples only in the states which recognise SSM? That seems like a situation that cannot last.
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