The Supreme Court Does a Side-Step

The conservative Supreme Court last week took a side-step that most didn't see coming. A court that is so eager to give favorable nods to Hobby-Lobby and other conservative issues, got a little faint of heart when it came to the decision of same-sex marriage in the US.

My theory is this: They being certain that this is an issue that is going to happen, the tide is rolling with no end in sight, decided not to betray their conservative brethren and elect to just fail to do their job, and opt for hiding behind some vague States rights idea. They have opted for the decisions in the lower courts to stand.

So without the Supreme Court taking a clear and decisive stand, West Virginia, Virginia North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The irony of the fact that all of these states seem to be the bastion of Republicanism does not elude me.

Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia still all ban same-sex marriage as does Alaska, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. But several states now are awaiting the rulings of lower courts. These are Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Idaho.

Rather that rule on whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry as both proponents and opponents asked them to, the Supreme Court just decided to not decide. How convenient. What a bunch of wimps.

However this Republican majority Court are being clever in a way. They understand that even though it was they who dared not stand up and say "Gay Marriage is Unconstitutional" (because as scholars of the law they know it isn't) they decide to look the other way. All the Republican states that now have to allow gay marriage will resent it. Will they think, "Wow, we were really betrayed by our conservative buddies on the Court"? No. In their typical shallow way they will only remember that it happened in the Obama years.

As they believe as they do of every problem in the world, it's the fault of that uppity President.