Appeals court upholds gay marriage bans, reversing trend

[MerryBlooms]

A federal appeals court on Thursday bucked a recent trend of pro-gay marriage decisions by upholding state bans or restrictions in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, pressuring the Supreme Court to take up the issue.

The 2-1 ruling, by the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, is the first ruling by a federal appeals court that upholds bans on same-sex marriage. Gay marriage advocates said they would immediately seek U.S. Supreme Court review.

The high court, if it agrees to hear the case, could potentially issue a decision by the end of June saying once and for all whether any states can ban gay marriage.

In Thursday’s ruling, the appeals court upheld gay marriage bans in Kentucky and Michigan. It also ruled that Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky are not required to recognize gay marriages that take place in other states.

http://news.yahoo.com/appeals-court-upholds-gay-marriage-bans-reversing-trend-000443063.html

[merrily]

1. Division among circuit courts is a basis for the SCOTUS to reconsider

its recent decision not to hear an equal marriage case. If Kennedy holds fast, that could be great, but an appeal after this election makes me uneasy. I am just going to hope for the good health and good graces of Justice Kennedy and hold tight to that thought.

[MerryBlooms]

3. I worry the election results will empower the conservative courts

not just with marriage equality, but in all civil rights cases.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

2. Enough already. Can the state stop meddling in people's intimate lives already?

[MerryBlooms]

5. Well, you know how republicans hate government, Unless

it involves meddling in people's personal lives or robbing the country blind.

[merrily]

9. Or the MIC, Homeland Security, NSA, CIA, FBI etc

[morningfog]

4. Here's a linkto the full opinion:

http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/6th-CA-marriage-ruling-11-6-14.pdf

It is a pretty weak opinion, especially compared to the other recent district and appellate court decisions on the matter. The two circuit judges apply the rational basis test and do not find marriage to be a fundamental right. Even under that standard of review, the decision is quite weak. Other courts have eviscerated same-sex marriage bans under rational basis review. This opinion seems drafted solely to create a circuit split and to force the issue to the Supreme Court.

I am confident this case will not be the prevailing decision. Kennedy would never sign onto this theory and it is clearly the only legal toehold the bigots have left. If there were something stronger, it would have been written.

[MerryBlooms]

6. You're right, it is a very poorly written decision. An embarrassment to the court.

[morningfog]

7. The dissent opening is brilliant:

“The great tides and currents which engulf the rest of men do not turn aside in their course to pass the judges by.” Benjamin Cardozo

The author of the majority opinion has drafted what would make an engrossing TED Talk or, possibly, an introductory lecture in Political Philosophy. But as an appellate court decision, it wholly fails to grapple with the relevant constitutional question in this appeal: whether a state’s constitutional prohibition of same-sex marriage violates equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Judicial body slam.

[MerryBlooms]

8. Indeed

If we in the judiciary do not have the authority, and indeed the responsibility, to right fundamental wrongs left excused by a majority of the electorate, our whole intricate, constitutional system of checks and balances, as well as the oaths to which we swore, prove to be nothing but shams.

[woolldog]

10. Not the final word, I think

there's a good chance the entire 6th circuit would reverse the 2-1 decision if it hears the case en banc.

[MerryBlooms]

11. I have no doubt it will be reversed, but it's a shameful decision- in my book.