Tag Archives: Supreme Court

A Good Day for Gay Marriage

It’s not a total victory, but today’s two Supreme Court decisions on gay marriage are definitely gains for those supporting the right.

In the California Proposition 8 case, the Court ruled 5-4 that those seeking to defend the proposition (which bans gay marriage) lacked the standing to do so.  Since they don’t have standing either before the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court, that means the district court decision allowing gay marriage was not reversed.  It was a narrow and limited victory, but a victory nonetheless.  The state of California would have had standing to defend the proposition voted for by its citizens, but it chose not to.

In the Defense of Marriage Act case, the Court acted more broadly and decisively in striking down the law, holding 5-4 that the federal government must recognize gay marriages from states where such marriages are legal.  Besides being a victory for gay marriage, it is also a victory for states’ rights.

Supreme Court Rules Against Ohio GOP

In a big win for the Obama campaign, the U. S. Supreme Court denied the request of Ohio’s GOP Secretary of State to cancel early voting on the last three days before the election.

Last cycle, about 100,000 people voted during that time, and most of them were Obama voters, including the crucial “souls to the polls” efforts sponsored by African-American churches on the Sunday before.

Mitt won’t win without Ohio, and this makes his path harder.

Bush v. Gore II?

Ohio is critical for both President Obama and Mitt.  It might well decide the election.

So the fight over early voting there is especially unsettling.  Last time, about 100,000 ballots were cast in the three days before the election, most of them for Obama.  The Democrats have won a lower court federal ruling in favor of maintaining those three days  that the GOP has been trying to cancel.

The dispute may result in an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.  Their decision could determine the outcome not just for Ohio, but for the whole country.

Just what we need, another Bush v. Gore.  I’m still angry about the first one.

Mitt on Abortion — Who Me?

Mitt is trying to deflect abortion rights as an issue for his campaign by saying that the president has nothing to do with abortion:  “Recognize this is the decision that will be made by the Supreme Court?”

Who does he think nominates Supreme Court justices?  And does anyone think he would bring us more Kagans or Sotomayors?

Mitt is on record many times as saying he wants Roe v. Wade to be over-turned.

I especially hate Mitt when he acts as if we’re all morons.  He’s spent too much time with members of his own party.

Roberts Did Flip

CBS News is reporting that rumors that Chief Justice John Roberts flipped his vote on Obamacare are true.*  Roberts originally was with Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy in striking down the individual mandate as unconstitutional and not justified under the Commerce Clause.

When Roberts flipped, the others conservatives, led by Kennedy, spent a month trying to get him to switch back to their side.  Roberts, for his part, tried to get Kennedy to join with him to create a larger majority.

The conservatives were (and are) so angry that they refused to join the portions of Roberts’ decision with which they completely agree, such as his views on the Commerce Clause.

* “Roberts switched views to uphold health care law,” Jan Crawford

They’re Baaaaaack!

Tea Party groups across the country are rallying for demonstrations on July 4th to protest the Supreme Court’s decision upholding Obamacare.  So we can’t even celebrate our country’s birthday in peace.

As you head off to picnics and parades, watch out for obese people bursting the buttons of their breeches, unironically hoisting signs that read “Keep your government hands off my Medicare.”

You Can’t Get Much Sicker Than This

At the Republican Conference meeting following the Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision, Mike Pence (R-IN) compared the decision to 9/11.

That kind of says it all about the GOP and where their heads are right now.

Since Keith is off the air, I will take it upon myself to name Mike Pence “today’s worst person in the world.”

Mitt Counts His Chickens

Mitt was so confident the Supremes would rule against Obamacare that he said such a result would mean President Obama’s entire term was a failure.

Now that Obamacare has been upheld, does that mean he thinks Obama’s term has been a success?

Party and politics aside, Mitt’s rushing out on a limb like that displays poor judgment that we don’t want in our Commander in Chief.

Sue Lowden was mocked when she ran for Senate from Nevada and talked about how people used to pay for their health care by bringing the doctor a chicken.  At least those chickens had hatched!

John Roberts, Profile in Courage

However you feel about Obamacare, today was an excellent day for our system of government.

John Roberts did his job.  The question before him was not whether or not he liked Obamacare, whether this was the law he would have written, but whether this law that Congress passed and the President signed is constitutional.

He found that it is, under Congress’ power to tax.

Back on March 26, I wrote that this might be the outcome, based on Roberts’ stance during oral arguments.  Opponents of  the individual mandate had sought to distinguish the mandate itself from the fine (or tax) that would be assessed, and Roberts rejected that distinction as ridiculous.

Roberts is getting a ton of grief from his fellow conservatives, but our Founding Fathers would be proud.  He did the right thing for the Court and the country.  I’ll be mad at him again, I’m sure, but today he has my respect and admiration.

Those of you who read my pieces know that I would have taken a different approach to health care reform from Obamacare, but I have never doubted that it is constitutional.  So I celebrate this result.