Let the Games Begin (link)

[_The Mighty Builder]

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=206385 ... id=queue-7

Without Prop 8 the US Supreme Court might not have heard this case for years

"The 1st Circuit said its ruling would not be enforced until the Supreme Court decides the case, meaning that same-sex married couples will not be eligible to receive the economic benefits denied by the law until the high court rules.

That's because the ruling only applies to states within the circuit – Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire – and Puerto Rico. Only the Supreme Court has the final say in deciding whether a law passed by Congress is unconstitutional.

Until Congress passed the law, "the power to define marriage had always been left to individual states, the appeals court said in its ruling.

"One virtue of federalism is that it permits this diversity of governance based on local choice, but this applies as well to the states that have chosen to legalize same-sex marriage," Judge Michael Boudin wrote for the court. "Under current Supreme Court authority, Congress' denial of federal benefits to same-sex couples lawfully married in Massachusetts has not been adequately supported by any permissible federal interest.""

[_3sheets2thewind]

take DOMA out of the equation, we still then have the "full faith and credit" clause, which mandates that contracts in one state are valid in another state. So if DOMA is unconstitutional it is very likely that prop 8, deemed unconstitutional twice, will be as well. Because full faith and credit requires the honoring of Contracts.

[_moksha]

Wonder if the Roberts' Court would be free to ignore the equal protection clause of the Constitution? With a Tea Party Congress they might want to get back to the basic Constitution before all those amendments.