[highball]

I was somewhat disappointed in Cooper’s defense because he refrained from a direct attack on gay marriage. As a states’ rights advocate, I appreciated the fact that he tried to convince the court that important, democratic, timely, public debate should continue as is with various states banning and allowing gay marriage.

As was I.

Listening to the oral arguments, I was struck by the fact that Cooper's argument seemed to boil down to "let us lose the fight in every state one by one".

He wasn't a passionate advocate for Prop 8 on its own merits, only that SCOTUS should "go slow" in the march to gay marriage nationwide.

[BuckeyeTexan]

IMHO, Cooper’s argument blew up when he failed to successfully answer Justice Sotomayor’s question on whether or not there is any other rational basis for a government to deny something to someone on the basis of their sexual orientation. She specfifically mentioned a job.

Cooper had his thumb up his @ss and said no.

There are still several states where it is legal for an employer to deny a job to or refuse to hire an individual on the basis of their sexual orientation. While that isn’t the government doing the denying, it is the government saying yes - denying on the basis of sexual orientation is fine.