A Tell - By Josh Marshall
By JOSH MARSHALL Published FEBRUARY 9, 2015, 9:25 AM EST
Josh Marshall is editor and publisher of TalkingPointsMemo.com.
The Supreme Court has just denied Alabama's last ditch effort to avoid issuing same-sex marriage licenses. And the nature of the rejection seems to provide the best evidence yet of what's coming on the big national question about the constitutionality of any bans on same sex marriage. The only dissenters were reportedly Scalia and Thomas. And Thomas wrote - correctly, it would seem - that this is a good indication of how the whole court will eventually rule.
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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-tell
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US Supreme Court Denies Alabama's Request To Stop Gay Marriages
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court says it won't stop same-sex marriages from beginning in Alabama on Monday.
The court on Monday morning denied the Alabama attorney general's request to extend a hold on a judge's ruling overturning the state's ban on gay marriage. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange had asked the Supreme Court to keep the decision on hold because justices are expected to issue a nationwide ruling on gay marriage later this year.
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Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia dissented from the court's decision not to block same-sex marriages. They also implied that the court's other justices were tipping their hand in how they would rule when the same-sex marriage question comes before them again in the coming months.
"The court looks the other way as yet another federal district judge casts aside state laws without making any effort to preserve the status quo pending the court’s resolution of a constitutional question it left open," Thomas wrote in the dissent joined by Scalia, per Bloomberg. “This acquiescence may well be seen as a signal of the court’s intended resolution of that question.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme-court-alabama-gay-marriage
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Alabama Chief Justice Makes Last-Ditch Effort To Halt Gay Marriage In State
By CATHERINE THOMPSON Published FEBRUARY 9, 2015, 7:12 AM EST
The Alabama Supreme Court's chief justice ordered probate judges and other state employees not to issue or recognize marriage licenses for same-sex couples, even though a federal appeals court ruling cleared the way for gay marriage to begin in the state on Monday.
AL.com reported that Chief Justice Roy Moore, who is best known for refusing to remove a statue of the Ten Commandments from the state judicial building, said in an order issued late Sunday that recognizing or issuing same-sex marriage licenses violates Alabama law.
Moore threatened that Gov. Robert Bentley (R) would be responsible for ensuring that state law is "faithfully executed" should any probate judge issue or recognize a same-sex marriage license.
The chief justice has also repeatedly advised probate judges that they were not compelled to follow a federal judge's ruling that struck down Alabama's gay marriage ban last month.
more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/roy-moore-orders-alabama-judges-no-gay-marriage
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