Monday, October 6, 2014

Secession vs Gay Rights - Which "Way" are the States going? - Part 2

This is an update to:

Secession vs Gay Rights - Which "Way" are the States going?
http://globalistnews.blogspot.com/2014/05/secession-vs-gay-rights-which-way-are.html

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The Same-Sex Marriage Fight Is Over
By refusing to take a stand on lower-court decisions, the justices have effectively settled the fight—in favor of gays and lesbians who want to marry.
Garrett Epps Oct 6 2014, 1:16 PM ET



At the annual William and Mary Supreme Court Preview in September, leading appellate lawyers and journalists speculated on what the Court would do with several pending same-sex marriage cases. The one thing that was agreed was that the Court would not simply deny the petitions for review.

On Monday, at the official start of the October 2014 Term, the Court did exactly that.

As late as this morning, the National Law Journal was hailing the beginning of “a low-key term.” Instead, the term began with global news—and a chaotic scene in the press room reminiscent of the confusion over the Affordable Care Act cases and even Bush v. Gore. Not only was the Court’s decision to deny certiorari in all the same-sex marriage cases a surprising one. Complicating matters was a clerical mistake that led the press office to distribute to reporters a printed list of “orders”—meaning, among other things, denials of cert.—that was missing 33 pages. And the big news was in those 33 pages. A number of reporters went upstairs for oral argument, not knowing that history was being made. (I was one.)

A quick explanation is in order: The Supreme Court does not have to take most cases. It has discretion over most of its jurisdiction. A party who lost a case below may petition the Court for review; the technical term is “writ of certiorari,” or “cert.” for short. It is hornbook law that a denial of cert. has no legal meaning. It doesn’t mean the Court approves of the decision below. It just means the Court doesn’t want to look at the issue now.

So the Court officially gave no hint as to how it would rule when—or, as of today if—the same-sex-marriage issue comes before it. Unofficially, I don’t see how that can be true. I don’t see how today’s decision doesn’t signal that even within the Court, the fight is over.

The reason is this: When cert. is denied, the judgment below becomes final. In every one of the marriage cases below, a federal court of appeals held that the parties before it are entitled to recognition of their marriages, or entitled to be legally married in their state or residence. Laws and state constitutional provisions limiting marriage to “one man and one woman” are void. In each case, either the court of appeals itself or the Supreme Court had “stayed the mandate” pending Supreme Court review. Today those stays began to disappear. They cannot survive.

In the days and weeks ahead, couples will be allowed to marry in their states. In fact, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has announced that marriages can begin in the commonwealth as early as 1 p.m. today.

more here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/The-Same-Sex-Marriage-Fight-Is-Over/381146/

comments:
https://www.facebook.com/TheAtlantic/posts/10152806742078487

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LIVE BLOG: The freedom to marry comes to 5 more states, paves way in 6 more



more here:
http://www.freedomtomarry.org/blog/entry/live-blog-the-freedom-to-marry-comes-to-5-more-states

Compare that to the States that had people seeking Secession:

2012 state petitions for secession

According to the We the People petitioning site, the largest petitions have the following signature count:

    Texas: 125,000[8]
    Tennessee: 32,694[9]
    Alabama: 31,597
    Arizona: 23,987
    Arkansas: 23,506
    Colorado: 22,720
    Indiana: 21,932
    Missouri: 20,562
    Michigan: 19,981
    Kentucky: 19,344
    Mississippi: 18,861
    Oklahoma: 18,360
    New York: 15,361
    California: 15,220
    Oregon: 15,007
    New Jersey: 14,487
    Pennsylvania: 13,971
    Montana: 13,733
    Ohio: 12,040
    North Dakota: 11,744
    Nevada: 10,706
    Wyoming: 9,341
    Virginia: 9,102
    Kansas: 8,857
    Utah: 8,446
    Alaska: 8,099
    West Virginia: 8,084
    Delaware: 7,804
    Nebraska: 7,394
    Wisconsin: 7,386
    South Dakota: 6,716
    Idaho: 6,450
    Minnesota: 5,807
    New Hampshire: 5,640
    Illinois: 5,520
    New Mexico: 5,329
    Iowa: 5,276
    Rhode Island: 4,826
    Washington: 4,600
    Maine: 4,344
    Hawaii: 4,269
    Massachusetts: 4,254
    Maryland: 4,176
    Connecticut: 3,910
    Vermont: 2,656

sources here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_state_petitions_for_secession

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Texas

POLLING DATA:

In the past, support for the freedom to marry in Texas was below 40% but today a majority of Texans (48%) now support marriage for same sex couples. (Texas Tech University, April 2014)

NUMBER OF SAME-SEX COUPLES:

According to The Williams Institute's analysis of the 2010 U.S. Census, 46,401 same-sex couples are living in Texas, representing 5.2 same-sex couples per 1,000 households.

more here:
http://www.freedomtomarry.org/states/entry/c/texas

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States:

In 25 states - CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IA, IL, IN, ME, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OK, OR, PA, RI, UT, VA, VT, WA and WI, plus Washington, D.C. - same-sex couples have the freedom to marry.

In an additional five states - KS, NC, SC, WV, and WY - federal appellate rulings have set a binding precedent in favor of the freedom to marry, meaning the path is cleared for the freedom to marry there.

In another 10 states, judges have issued rulings in favor of the freedom to marry, with many of these rulings now stayed as they proceed to appellate courts: In AR, FL, ID, KY, MI, and TX, judges have struck down marriage bans, and in AZ, LA, OH and TN, judges have issued more limited pro-marriage rulings.

In NV, same-sex couples can join together in domestic partnership, which offers broad protections short of marriage. And in MO, the marriages of same-sex couples legally performed in other states are respected.

With these advances, a record number of Americans live in states that recognize relationships between same-sex couples:

    Over 54% of the U.S. population lives in a state with the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.

    Nearly 55% of the U.S. population lives in a state with either marriage or a broad legal status such as domestic partnership.

    Over 60% of the U.S. population will soon live in a state with the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.

United States Map

more here, for a map with links to each state:
http://www.freedomtomarry.org/states/

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Welcome to Babylon.
Don't worry, we'll be cleaning this mess up.




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