When the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA) many people assumed that the Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage was protected by the constitution. They should have read the actual opinion.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/supreme-court-doma-decision_n_3454811.html
“The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. “By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment.”
The court did not rule that gay marriage was protected by the constitution. It ruled that the Fifth Amendment prevented the federal government from overturning a state law approving gay marriage. I always assume that Supreme Court rulings are very carefully crafted. Notice that the court did not say that The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) did not serve a legitimate purpose. If anything, Kennedy implied that DOMA did serve a legitimate purpose. He just said that even for a legitimate purpose the federal government cannot take away a right specifically granted by the State.
Who knows? This court may decide that gay marriage is protected by the Fifth Amendment. That is obviously possible. But they may also decide that this issue belongs to the states and not the federal government. I suspect that the Supreme Court is reluctant to decide on gay marriage either way. That would be consistent with the DOMA decision.
In his dissent to the DOMA ruling, Judge Scalia wrote that federal Judges would misinterpret the decision as requiring states to approve gay marriage. He was right about that. A whole bunch of federal judges have done exactly that.
The Supreme Court just put a hold on the decision to strike down Utah’s gay marriage ban. Some may ask why Utah matters. The reason is standing. The Supreme Court rejected the challenge to the decision overturning California’s Proposition 8 because the plaintiffs did not have standing. The State of California, under the brilliant leadership of Governor Brown, refused to appeal the decision by one federal judge to overturn Proposition 8. But in Utah, the state government is appealing the decision regarding gay marriage in Utah and the state of Utah most definitely does have standing.
It is particularly interesting to look at California’s Proposition 8. Proposition 8 changed the California constitution. To put this in perspective ask yourself a very simple question. “Suppose that voters in California had passed referendum changing the state constitution to approve gay marriage.” Now suppose a judge overturned that referendum by ruling that gay marriage is unconstitutional. The gay rights community would have been outraged. Governor Brown would have definitely appealed that decision.
Both Governor Brown and Attorney General Harris had a duty to defend Proposition 8, whether they agreed with it or not. They refused, because they didn’t like Proposition 8. That is typical of the liberal left. If you don’t agree with them, your opinion does not matter.
Just a few weeks ago, most people believed that nationwide gay marriage was inevitable. There were all these court decisions with the main stream media wildly promoting gay marriage. A lot of people, who are opposed to gay marriage, basically gave up in despair. I have a message for you. This has the potential to change everything.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/06/supreme-court-halts-utah-gay-marriage/4338799/
I would not be surprised by a Supreme Court decision that refuses to rule on same-sex marriage at all. They just may rule that the decision is up to the states.
One final thought. A gay couple got married on a float during the Rose Parade. Six weeks ago I would have bet my bottom dollar that all of the networks covering the Rose Parade would have covered the ceremony. But that was prior to the Duck Dynasty backlash. Multiple TV stations cut away from the gay marriage ceremony and went to commercial. I doubt that this was a coincidence.
It is just possible that, with regard to gay marriage, we are back to square one.
TDM