Political Ruminations

Morning Quote: Judge Vanessa Bryant

A George W. Bush appointee, federal Judge Vanessa Bryant, has ruled DOMA unconstitutional in Pedersen et al v. Office of Personnel Management et al, concluding:

“[….]having considered the purported rational bases proffered by both BLAG and Congress and concluded that such objectives bear no rational relationship to Section 3 of DOMA as a legislative scheme, the Court finds that no conceivable rational basis exists for the provision. The provision therefore violates the equal protection principles incorporated in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

Section 3 “prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages”, and thus “violates equal protection guarantees”.

Via Ashby

Morning Quote: Newt Gingrich

GOP presidential hopeful, Newt Gingrich’s predictable reaction to the news yesterday that New York state passed a law allowing same-sex marriage:

“I think the president should be, frankly, enforcing that act [DOMA], and I think we are drifting toward a terrible muddle which I think is going to be very, very difficult and painful to work our way out of.”

People who marry because they love each other are going to be the cause of a “terrible muddle”.

Oy.

Pew Poll - America Shifts to the Left

As the GOP moves further right, America goes to the left, as illustrated in this chart based on a Pew Research Center poll.

Yglesias:

Five years ago, if there were five Supreme Court justices who believed that marriage equality should be the law of the land, they’d still probably have shied away from saying so for fear of issuing a desperately unpopular decision on a hot-button subject. Today, not so much. And with the Obama administration now saying that DOMA should be subjected to “heightened scrutiny” it would seem to follow that all forms of marriage inequity also deserve said heightened scrutiny. Consequently, I think we may actually wind up having nationwide marriage equality sooner than people think as long as Justice Kennedy continues to be sympathetic to gay equity claims.

Via Maddow