Judge in gay marriage case asks pointed questions
First, this is a really interesting audio of the court hearing.
The Task Force
?@TheTaskForce
LISTEN: Audio of today's 10th Circuit oral argument in #OK marriage case http://www.uscourts.gov/courts/ca10/14-5003.mp3 … … #lgbt @okiequality
After listening, I looked up a news article.
http://www.turnto10.com/story/25269830/oklahoma-gay-marriage-case-before-us-appeals-court
DENVER (AP) - A judge in Colorado who will play a pivotal role deciding whether gays should be allowed to wed in the United States asked pointed questions Thursday about whether Oklahoma can legally ban the unions.
U.S. Circuit Judge Jerome Holmes is seen as the swing vote on the three-judge panel that heard the Oklahoma appeal and a similar case from Utah last week.
The two cases are the first to reach an appellate court since the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Since then, gay rights lawyers have successfully convinced eight federal judges that the ruling means courts must strike down laws against gay marriage because they deprive same-sex couples of a fundamental right.
During Thursday's hearing before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel, Holmes suggested he interpreted the Supreme Court's ruling the same way.
"The state cannot define marriage in any way that would trample constitutional rights, right?" Holmes asked Jim Campbell, the attorney representing the defendant in the case, the Tulsa County clerk.
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my words: One judge on the three judge panel seems to support the lower court ruling that struck down the bans in OK and Utah. Another judge also seems skeptical of the bans. So people are looking to Holmes to see where he is.
