Judge Denies Schuylkill County Register of Will’s Petition to Appeal Marriage Equality in PA
Source: Philadelphia Magazine
Last week I reported that Schuylkill County Register of Wills Theresa Santai-Gaffney made a move to halt same-sex marriages in Pennsylvania when she drafted a petition urging Governor Corbett to appeal the ruling. Well today Im happy to report shes been stopped dead in her tracks. Yesterday, Judge John Jones III denied her request to intervene, stating that her deep personal disagreement with his decision doesnt make her a stand-in for the state. More from Bloomberg:
If the highest elected official in the commonwealth chooses to abide by our decision, it defies credulity that we would permit a single citizen to stand in for him to perfect an appeal, Jones wrote. Santai-Gaffney, the county register of wills, argued that the decision made the state of marriage law and the scope of her duties unclear.
"Nothing could be further from the truth,'' Jones wrote, saying the decision was clarified in a notice issued by the state Department of Health to clerks that handle marriage licenses.
As I mentioned before, Governor Corbett has 30 days to appeal Judge Jones original ruling. If my calculations are correct, today is exactly 30 days from the May 20 decision. Looks like marriage equality is here to stay in PA!
Read more: http://www.phillymag.com/g-philly/2014/06/19/judge-denies-schuylkill-county-register-wills-petition-appeal-marriage-equality-pa
Homer Wells
(1,576 posts)let HER change jobs. It is not essential that she hold that position!
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)I've always wanted to say that to a right wing kook.
RKP5637
(67,109 posts)yellowcanine
(35,699 posts)Credit to James Carville:
"Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between." James Carville
But these guys from F&M College make a pretty good case that Carville overstates the situation a bit.
http://www.fandm.edu/politics/politically-uncorrected-column/2002-politically-uncorrected/it-s-pennsylvania-stupid
Sheldon Cooper
(3,724 posts)And a look at the election data over the past decade (at least) shows small strips of blue in the east and west and a HUGE swath of red in between. Despite what the rural people claimed, they still voted for Republicans. So, I don't think Carville overstated at all.
yellowcanine
(35,699 posts)there are still some pockets of fairly progressive voters. And of course both the cities of Lebanon and Lancaster have sizable Hispanic populations (about 30% in both cities) which moderates things a bit - how much they vote is another question.