Last week, I ranked the Supreme Court Justices by their likelihood of supporting marriage equality. In light of Tuesday’s oral arguments, I want to update some of those predictions. Justice Thomas, to the surprise of no one, said nothing. Still a “No” vote on marriage equality. Justice Scalia seemed convinced that a Federal right to…
The Supreme Court appeared sharply divided Tuesday along ideological lines on whether the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage, but Justice Anthony Kennedy, a pivotal vote, seemed open to legalizing gay marriage nationwide, reports Reuters. Kennedy appeared to be tipping toward recognizing a nationwide right to marriage based on his emphasis on the nobility…
1971, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision to deny a marriage license to a couple because they were the same sex. The couple’s appeal, known as Baker v. Nelson, was the last time the U.S. Supreme Court considered a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. To say they considered it is an overstatement,…
(CNN) — Four weeks. Four major legal rulings. What the Supreme Court decides by the end of June could fundamentally change lives and legacies on a range of politically explosive issues. The justices will meet in at least five public sessions to release opinions in its remaining 30 cases, among them some the most strongly-contested…
(CNN) — The ranks of Senate Democrats who back same-sex marriage grew Friday morning by two as Indiana’s Joe Donnelly and North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp came out publically in support of overturning a federal law banning marriages between men and women. “With the recent Supreme Court arguments and accompanying public discussion of same-sex marriage, I…
(CNN) — Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, a socially moderate Republican, announced on Tuesday his support for same-sex marriage, becoming the second Republican in the chamber to support it. “Same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage,” he wrote in a statement. “Our time on this earth is limited, I know that better than…
From Queerty.com comes a touching video from father of three Jack Montgomery, of Washington, D.C., who wrote an open letter to Justice Antonin Scalia and his fellow Supreme justices regarding Scalia’s speculation as to the potential “deleterious” effects of kids having same-sex parents. Montgomery and his husband Kelly Vielmo adopted three siblings from D.C.’s foster…
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The question of same-sex marriage went again before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday in the last of two oral arguments this week in separate appeals. This session dealt with the Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress in 1996. It said, in part, that legally married same-sex couples cannot enjoy the…
Here’s the latest on Wednesday’s Supreme Court session on the Defense of Marriage Act: [Updated at 1:20 p.m. ET] “I’m very optimistic that DOMA will be struck down. It has no rational basis for being,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said just now. Pelosi was at the Supreme Court to hear arguments over DOMA and…
(CNN) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments on the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. The federal law means federal tax, Social Security, pension, and bankruptcy benefits, and family medical leave protections do not apply to gay and lesbian…
