Tag: Supreme Court
Majority of Americans Now Live in States Where Same-Sex Marriage Is Legal
165 million
The number of people living in states where same-sex marriage is legal, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday to decline hearing a series of appeals cases, according to Nate Silver. The decision had the effect of immediately legalizing gay marriage in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin, for a total of 19 states and the District of Columbia. “That means for the first time, same-sex marriage is legal for the majority of the U.S. population. The 26 states where the practice is not legal have a total population of about 151 million.”
Ginsburg Ain’t Retiring. Period.
Who do you think President Obama could appoint at this very day, given the boundaries that we have? If I resign any time this year, he could not successfully appoint anyone I would like to see on the court… So anybody who thinks that if I step down, Obama could appoint someone like me, they’re misguided. As long as I can do the job full steam…. I think I’ll recognize when the time comes that I can’t any longer. But now I can.
— Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, telling Elle magazine that says she’s not going to retire.
I, The Company
The US of A is a wonderful nation
In which to be a person-like corporation.
I can influence elections
With unlimited contributions
While denying my employees access to contraception!
Campaign Carte Blanche
The Supreme Court’s interpretations are increasingly sly:
If a candidate’s for sale, then corporations can buy.
If that got you vexed,
Just look at what’s next:
Candidates have a First Amendment–protected right to lie!
Hark, Money Speaks!
And we thought the Citizens United ruling was a curse!
Thanks to SCOTUS, campaign funding’s gone from bad to worse,
Now the justices preach
That money equals speech,
But it’s the politicians who must pander to the power of the purse.
Justice Clarence Thomas Has become an ‘Embarrassment’
8
Number of years, as of Saturday, February 22, that have passed since Clarence Thomas last asked a question during a Supreme Court oral argument. Jeffrey Toobin: “His behavior on the bench has gone from curious to bizarre to downright embarrassing, for himself and for the institution he represents.”
Will Marriage Equality Come to North Carolina Next?
After Republicans hijacked North Carolina’s general assembly, an anti marriage equality constitutional amendment was presented to voters, and it passed. But with the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which ended the ridiculous Defense of Marriage Act, some local officials are doing the right thing anyway.
[Buncombe County Register of Deeds Drew] Reisinger told Reuters: “Lord knows I’ve had a handful of close friends who are in same-sex relationships come in and ask for a marriage license. It’s hard to get the words out to tell them, ‘No.'”
He said licenses were sought by six same-sex couples, including a lesbian couple together for 20 years whose request had been repeatedly denied.
“I have concerns about whether we are violating people’s civil rights based on this summer’s Supreme Court decision,” said Reisinger, 30, who is married and was elected to his post in Asheville, North Carolina, three years ago.
In Pennsylvania, Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who also is a Democrat, said in July she would not defend her state’s ban on gay marriage in a case before federal court in Pennsylvania, calling it “wholly unconstitutional.”
Reisinger’s office issued a statement formally requesting the North Carolina attorney general’s review.
