Free Republic

These decisions, handed down by the Court today, affect to be limited in their reach, but they are even worse than they appear, and they cannot be cabined. They lay down the predicates for litigation that will clearly unfold now, and with short steps sure to come, virtually all of the barriers to same-sex marriage in this country can be swept away. Even constitutional amendments, passed by so many of the states, can be overridden now. The engine put in place to power this drive is supplied by Justice Kennedy’s “hate speech,” offering itself as the opinion of the Court...

Days from now, our country will be celebrating an America that its founders would barely recognize. Freedom, Alexis de Tocqueville once said, requires virtue. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear that the pillars of both are under attack. By a single vote, five unelected justices determined that they know better than God and struck at the heart of marriage in America. It was a powerful rebuke of a law FRC helped develop, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) -- but not the final blow. To the disappointment of many, this was not the sweeping nationwide redefinition of marriage...

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion for the Court in the DOMA case relies partly on federalism considerations, striking down Section 3 of DOMA in part because it goes beyond the usual scope of federal authority. In reaching this conclusion, it cites (among other sources) the amicus brief submitted by several federalism scholars, including co-bloggers Randy Barnett, Dale Carpenter, Jonathan Adler, and myself (pg. 23). As Kennedy points out, the avowed purpose of DOMA was to promote traditional heterosexual marriage, and “influence or interfere with state sovereign choices about who may be married”: The history of DOMA’s enactment and its own...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed the Supreme Court decision on DOMA as “wrong” and an example of “judicial supremacy.” Christie, a former federal prosecutor, made the remarks on his “Ask the Governor” radio show, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court struck a crucial section of the Defense of Marriage Act. … He blasted the U.S. Supremes for substituting “their own judgment for the judgment of a Republican Congress and a Democratic President. In the Republican Congress in the ’90s and Bill Clinton. I thought that Justice Kennedy’s opinion was, in many respects, incredibly insulting to those people, 340-some members...

The Supreme Court ruling against DOMA 'helps ensure that all men and women who serve this country can be treated fairly and equally,' Defense Secretary Hagel says. With the Supreme Court decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the Pentagon will move “as soon as possible” to make all the same benefits available to all military spouses, regardless of sexual orientation, the nation’s top defense official announced Wednesday. This will include burial for spouses of US troops at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as survivor benefits and identification cards that will allow them access to base gyms and...

It was a nice stroke of luck for MSNBC today during its coverage of the Supreme Court’s decisions rejecting the federal Defense of Marriage Act and essentially overturning California’s Proposition 8 that prevented same-sex couples from marrying in the state. President Obama interrupted the live interview with a phone call from Air Force One to offer congratulations:(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

Justice Alito’s dissent in the DOMA case contains an instant-classic footnote (number 7). I reproduce it below in its entirety, hoping that you will read the whole thing: The degree to which this question [the traditional view of marriage vs. the consent-based view] is intractable to typical judicial processes of decisionmaking was highlighted by the trial in Hollingsworth v. Perry. In that case, the trial judge, after receiving testimony from some expert witnesses, purported to make “findings of fact” on such questions as why marriage came to be, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 704 F. Supp. 2d 921, 958 (ND Cal....

Here's The latest in the continuing saga of Rand on the Skywire, trying to inch along the tightrope between libertarians and conservatives towards the GOP nomination on the other side.Love him or hate him, the 2016 debates will be roughly 8,000 percent more interesting with him onstage than they would be otherwise. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told ABC News he believes the Supreme Court ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act was appropriate, and that the issue should be left to the states. He praised Justice Anthony Kennedy for avoiding “a cultural war.”“As a country we can agree to disagree,”...

SNIP But that’s not how they came out. The liberal wing of the Court plus Kennedy struck down DOMA, with Roberts dissenting on the issue of standing to sue. Then the Court punted on Prop 8, holding that the plaintiffs (hey, they weren’t a gay couple) didn’t have standing. On the standing issue Kennedy and Roberts were consistent. Kennedy didn’t see a standing problem in either case, Roberts did. Both cases were 5-4. I don’t have the second case in front of me but here’s what I think explains what happened. The liberal wing, voting strategically, didn’t see a standing...

While raising money for Bill Clinton (who signed the Defense of Marriage Act) in 1992, Rahm Emanuel proclaimed “Gays are the next Jews of fundraising.” I’m not 100 percent sure what he meant by that, but Democrats have certainly grabbed onto gay issues as a fundraising lever. Democrats today are using the gay marriage ruling as a way to raise money, my colleague Paul Bedard writes. Obama’s core network of fundraisers included many gay men and women who were also gay-marriage activists. I wrote on this after Obama spurred a fundraising boom by announcing his support for gay marriage.

As Christians, we believe and confess that God Himself instituted marriage as the life-long union of one man and one woman. Same-sex unions are contrary to God’s will, and gay marriage is, in the eyes of God, no marriage at all. As Christians, we proclaim this truth, no matter what the courts or legislatures may say. We are called not to popularity but to truth. Therefore, we call on our fellow Christians to be faithful first to God’s Word, knowing that another court is ultimately supreme.

The Department of Defense welcomes the Supreme Court's decision today on the Defense of Marriage Act. The department will immediately begin the process of implementing the Supreme Court's decision in consultation with the Department of Justice and other executive branch agencies. The Department of Defense intends to make the same benefits available to all military spouses -- regardless of sexual orientation -- as soon as possible. That is now the law and it is the right thing to do. Every person who serves our nation in uniform stepped forward with courage and commitment. All that matters is their patriotism, their...

I haven’t been blogging for a while, and I wonder why. One of the reasons is simple: I have had some personal and family issues to deal with. They have occupied my mind and my time. I’ve also been working hard to finish Slubgrip Instructs – the sequel to The Gargoyle Code . But today I realize that there is another reason. Maybe I should give up reading hysterical Facebook stuff, but the temperature is rising in the culture wars, and I’m scared.This week we’ve seen homosexual protesters screaming and shouting abuse at a Catholic Mass. At this Mass, celebrated...

President Bill Clinton released a statement, together with his wife Hillary Clinton, hailing the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, a bill he signed into law in 1996. "By overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, the Court recognized that discrimination towards any group holds us all back in our efforts to form a more perfect union. We are also encouraged that marriage equality may soon return to California. We applaud the hard work of the advocates who have fought so relentlessly for this day, and congratulate Edie Windsor on her historic victory," the Clintons' statement reads....

Choices: No. Marriage is between a man and a woman. Period. Yes. It’s a freedom and equality issue. Washington shouldn’t have the power to say what couples can and cannot get married. Somewhat. The federal government shouldn’t be involved at all. Leave it to the states to decide these things. It doesn’t matter. Marriage is a dead institution anyway.

The Libertarian Party applauds the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today to strike the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law that discriminates against non-heterosexual marriages. The Libertarian Party has supported marriage equality since its founding in 1971.

SCOTUS says DOMA is unconstitutional and Prop 8 will live...I would like to think I speak for a majority of conservatives when I say opposition to gay marriage is NOT about hating homosexuals. Everyone has sin, heterosexuals have plenty of their own to mind.People who want to say this is about "hate" are either missing, or are choosing to be willfully ignorant of the MUCH greater and more important societal consequences of messing with something that has been a bedrock for civilization since its beginning.The will of the people is shifting on this, granted, and I have no idea where those...

In a victory for sexual perverts in States where it is legal for deviants to be married, The Supreme Court of the United States has spit in the face of Almighty God and every true Christian in this country, and ignored thousands of years of human history in which homosexual ACTS have been tolerated by some, but never have they allowed to marry on a de facto or de jure basis, by striking down the provisions of DOMA that deny sexual deviants the same Federal benefits of marriage. The Court reasoned that it is unconstitutional to deny marriage benefits to...

Dissenting from this morning's opinion on the Defense of Marriage Act, Justice Antonin Scalia – as expected – holds nothing back. In a ripping dissent, Scalia says that Justice Anthony Kennedy and his colleagues in the majority have resorted to calling opponents of gay marriage "enemies of the human race."