Last of the Anti-Gay Marriage Judges

[DonViejo]

A judge upheld Louisiana's ban on same-sex marriage—but support for freedom to marry is now the norm across America.

When a judge refers to being gay as "lifestyle choices," you know there's going to be a problem.

That’s how U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman, appointed to the bench in 1983 by President Reagan, teed up his ruling on Wednesday upholding Louisiana's denial of the freedom to marry to gay couples.

Fortunately, Judge Feldman's legal opinion is an outlier, the only one out of 26 in federal courts in the last year that didn’t find marriage discrimination unconstitutional.

The very next day, another Reagan appointee, Judge Richard Posner, in a unanimous ruling for the 7th Circuit federal appellate court, struck down comparable marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana. In an authoritative, hard-hitting opinion Judge Posner eviscerated the justification Judge Feldman had latched onto, writing, "The only rationale that the states put forth with any conviction—that same-sex couples and their children don’t need marriage because same-sex couples can’t produce children, intended or unintended—is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously." Judge Posner’s dismantling of the specious arguments for the denial of the freedom to marry was so pointed, so effective, so direct—so readable!—that I wonder if any other state will dare trot them out again.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/05/louisiana-s-gay-marriage-ban-is-an-outlier.html

[Heidi]

1. He's 80.

He has to either die or retire at some point. Enlightenment seems too much to hope for.

[riversedge]

2. But the Republican offspring are just as horrible if

not worse. We must win elections and get judges on the court that will not discriminate. #GOTV for Democrats

[RKP5637]

4. Yep, they never die off. I used to think that, but it just doesn't happen that way, the new ones

are just as vile.

[Heidi]

5. Oh, I agree!

It's the only way.

[RKP5637]

3. K&R! n/t