While Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has some of the worst approval ratings in the country (58% disapprove of the job he’s doing vs 27% approve), voters in the Keystone state do agree with the Republican on at least one thing.
Corbett’s decision to not appeal the recent court ruling which struck down the state’s ban on marriage equality sits well with voters. According to Public Policy Polling,56% of voters support that decision versus 33% who do not.
The governor is in a tough race for reelection this year as current polls show his Democratic challenger Tom Wolf with a 25 point lead (55/30).
Gov. Butch Otter of Idaho has filed a request with the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court to hear his state’s appeal regarding the recent same-sex marriage ban’s repeal to be heard by a full 11-judge panel instead of the usual 3-judge panel.
“Because the marriage issue is so passionately contested and so divisive among the citizenry, the perception of the legitimacy of this court’s resolution of it must be of paramount concern,” attorneys for the governor argue in their motion. “A decision by an 11-judge panel stands far higher and stronger than does a decision by a three-judge panel, just as a decision by a three-judge panel stands far higher and stronger than does a decision by a single judge.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale last month overturned Idaho’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, saying it violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process; four Idaho couples had sued, saying their constitutional rights were violated by the state not allowing them to marry or not recognizing their legal marriages from other states.
The appeal was immediately filed with the Ninth Circuit Court when the initial ruling was issued. However, it is unusual to go directly to a full “en banc” hearing. Normally, an appeal works it’s way through a 3-judge panel, and then to “en banc” as an appeal or directly to the US Supreme Court.
The Ninth Circuit Court has ordered that the case be handled swiftly, with briefing over the summer and arguments in the second week of September.
The state of Maine has fined the virulently anti-gay National Organization for Marriage more than $50,000 for violating the state’s campaign finance laws.
The Maine Ethics Commission on Wednesday also ordered the National Organization for Marriage to file a campaign finance report that would reveal the donors who supported the 2009 referendum that struck down the state’s gay marriage law.
A lawyer for NOM said that it would file an appeal in state court.
NOM gave nearly $2 million to the political action committee Stand for Marriage Maine, which represented 64 percent of the PAC’s funds. Groups must register as ballot question committees if they raise or spend more than $5,000 to influence a state ballot question.
NOM argues that since the money wasn’t specifically raised for the Maine fight the organization did not have to register or file reports.
Interesting how NOM tells Maine what Maine law is…
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, in a Google Hangout with El Tiempo, says he supports equal marriage rights for same-sex couples:
“Marriage between homosexuals to me is perfectly acceptable and what’s more I am defending unions that exist between two people of the same sex with the rights and all of the same privileges that this union should receive.
“If these unions are called marriage or not is secondary to me. For me it is important that they have their rights.”
In South America, same-sex marriage is presently legal in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.
The Washington Post has published an interactive map that shows the current state of marriage equality in the US.
Note the lone North Dakota as the only state with neither same-sex marriage or a challenge to the state’s ban. That should change soon as Joshua Newville, the lawyer who filed the challenge in South Dakota, has stated a ND suit will be forthcoming in the near future.
Since 1996, when both Gallup and Pew polls reported those who approved of marriage equality was a mere 27%, support has grown to solid majority support at 55% at Gallup and 54% in Pew polls.
I might have lost count at how many important marriage equality court rulings have been found in favor of the good guys now. Yay for us!
And I think Governors Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania and Chris Christie of New Jersey have too, given that they decided to not even attempt an appeal over the issue in their respective states.
But the haters at National Organization for Marriage and Family Research Council are still plugging away. They are gonna go down with the ship. Over at the NOM Blog they write “The fight is far from over.”
Of course, it bears noting that Tony Perkins at the FRC and Brian Brown of NOM get paid to do just that.
Nevada, my current home state, has finally gotten a date for arguments in the Ninth Circuit Court regarding a challenge of the state’s same-sex marriage ban.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered Sevcik v. Sandoval, Lambda Legal’s challenge to Nevada’s same-sex marriage ban, to be placed on their argument calendar.
The case will be argued some time in September, though the order doesn’t specify an exact date.
Last night, the plaintiffs filed a request with the appeals court to schedule their case no later than a separate challenge to Idaho’s same-sex marriage ban.
The Nevada case has been on appeal in the Ninth Circuit since December 2012, while the Idaho appeal was only docketed a couple of weeks ago.
The original case was decided against the plaintiffs on September 26, 2012. Although briefs were filed months ago, the appeal has been put on hold while the court looked to other cases.
Freedom To Marry’s Evan Wolfson and Richard Socarides (who advised President Clinton on LGBT issues) talk with Ronan Farrow about the current surge in marriage equality in the US.
