Maybe it was going to be I love gays? Who knows?
I haven’t been able to keep up with this whole thread, but love this page of discussion of the dissents. I was blown away, and even FB friends who are lawyers but not liberal can’t believe the hyperbole in the writings. It’s really scary.
I don’t have time to type all I want to say, but I did want to say that, for me, what the Confederate flag issue brought up for me as a Southerner is that I was way too willing to give people the benefit of the doubt surrounding it, because I know good people who really do see it was a heritage thing and not a hate thing. HOWEVER, because it’s been co-opted by hate groups and that’s how, IMO, most people see it, we can’t continue to tolerate it because it normalizes hate, providing cover for those who are racist.
Likewise, these ridiculous dissents shouldn’t be left to stand because it normalizes this ridiculous line of argument. I am actually shocked that their arguments would be so contrary to the Constitution and that they’d get personal and not come up with any real legal arguments. I get that this is difficult for those for whom the Bible is how they base all/most thoughts, but, really, I would expect a SC justice to not try to blur the line of separation of church and state. These dissents were irresponsible.
Kennedy may have had the opinion, but I believe RBG’s influence was essential in this decision. As a devoted fan, I loved this article that was posted on Time’s website yesterday: http://time.com/3937882/ruth-bader-ginsburg-gay-marriage-ruling/.
I heart Stephen Colbert.
^^^That was really good. Thanks for posting.
And then there’s my state …
If it’s against their religion to issue a marriage license to gay people, they should resign as they cannot fulfill the obligations of their government job.
That photo in the TIME article of the Notorious RBG at 2 is priceless!
I was thinking the same thing, saintfan! 
Even the Episcopal church allows some discretion, whether a priest feels a couple is ready. A divorced couple, aiui, needs the permission of the bishop. I honestly don’t think a clerk would be sued, if another one stepped in-- but if the entire office refused to issue a license and this were tolerated, it’s a much bigger problem. Or if local law prohibited any willing judge.
Also, a Supreme Court justice can be impeached.
Actually, I wonder if the ridiculous nature of the dissent warrants some censure. No idea how that would happen. But it comes across as unprofessional.
They read each others’ opinions, I thought. I wonder what those discussions were like.
@Youdon’tsay, probably nothing impacting considering the resulting dissents.
When it comes to religious belief and the workplace, the courts have held that employers should try to reasonably accommodate the religious beliefs of employees, as long as in doing so it does not place a substantive burden upon the work of the place of employment. Thus an employee who is muslim asking for time and place to pray would be considered reasonable if there is space to allow it, or if working for a store that sells pork and alcohol, he could ask that he not be required to handle or sell those items and as long as that was not the bulk of the stores business, it would be reasonable, but telling a store it could sell those things would not be reasonable. If a druggist’s religious beliefs don’t allow him to dispense morning after pills or contraception, as long as he works with other pharmacists it would be considered reasonable accommodation that he not be required to do it. On the other hand, if they only have 1 pharmacist on duty, he cannot claim that exemption, because it would deny the owners the business they are in.
With the clerk’s offices, clerks can refuse to process same sex couples or perform civil ceremonies only if that doesn’t de facto make the office unavailable to same sex couples.They cannot totally shut off an office from serving same sex couples, as I am sure the religiously stupid will try, saying ‘everyone here believes it is a sin’, and they cannot say "a clerk who will perform same sex services will be here one day a week’, either (though who will enforce the law I don’t know, somehow I doubt the Obama administration has the guts to take on the bigots, I am sure they will say “you need to be patient, people need to come around”, it is amazing looking at history that a supposedly conservative president (Eisenhower) showed a lot more guts in doing what he did in Arkansas and other places in defending the law than Obama is likely to do. Something like this happened in the area I live in, the county clerk’s office when NJ legalized same sex marriage, refused to handle, to a person, from the head clerk on down, same sex couples wanting to get married, citing religious belief, and the NJ Supreme Court told them if they did that, they would be held in contempt because if they were allowed to claim religious exemption it de facto prevented same sex couples from the right to get married.
SCOTUS justices can be impeached, but they cannot be impeached for a decision, no matter how badly written someone thinks it is (for obvious reasons). The only way they can be impeached is if they are found guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, like taking bribes for example. On the other hand they are receiving a lot of heat, they might be darlings of the hard right, but legal scholars of all stripes, and most people, are basically shocked at how idiotic these read as. Justices are mindful of their reputation, and they are going to find that their dissents in this case are going to lessen their influence on things , on how they are viewed. Scalia was once a pretty respected legal scholar, these days he is revered by almost no one but the very hard right. Roberts especially has tried to project this image of careful decision making and restraint, with this it is pretty obvious he damaged that reputation.
@youdon’tsay, I wonder if that many clerks will actually refuse to marry gays. I know there were people getting married in Dallas within hours of the ruling.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. But ultimately, this is a change which WILL become routine despite all the gnashing of teeth and tantrums which are occurring now.
I didn’t think Roberts’ dissent read as unhinged.
I didn’t have much sympathy for Alito saying that with this decision, people who favor the decision will think people who oppose it are bigots. We don’t have a constitutional right not to be thought of as bigots.
Thanks for that explanation of the requirements to issue licenses, @musicprnt , although I’m sure in some places, it will take a court specifically ordering a city, state or county to issue the licenses whether they want to or not. Eventually, I agree with you, @Nrdsb4 , it will become routine. I don’t think anyone gets their knickers in a twist anymore about issuing licenses to interracial couples, as contentious as that once was.
I also agree that Scalia is respected by very few now except the hard right. Unfortunately, that seems to be all he cares about now, and the more outrageous and provocative he gets, the more they like him. So his opinions will probably get more and more wild as the years go by, and he’ll probably find himself in the majority less and less. Which unfortunately means his opinions will probably often carry the same view that the Court is illegitimate that this one did, because one thing we’ve learned about him this week – he really really doesn’t like being in the minority.
I’d need an organ transplant if the president were to send in troops to issue marriage licenses to cheery, fabulously clad gay couples in defiance of some governor’s refusal to follow the Court’s order. With the governor standing bravely in the doorway, a la George Wallace.
Reading comments on this story cracks me up. Two of my faves …
“This is how and why Texas will be invaded by the Federal government!! You’re playing right into their hands… you fools!”
“Every time i hear thunder i pray it is jade helm coming to liberate me…”
You might have to be Texan to get those …
Yeah, I live close to Texas and have no clue what a jade helm is. Google wasn’t helpful, either.