BUT! I wanted to tell you that I wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice when I grew up for a long time and here's why-- look at some of these questions they asked today! It really gets you thinking. They are so freaking smart. I especially like the question from Kagan. This is what happens when smart people talk about gay marriage. (from USAToday.com)
*In other news I can't wait for The Walking Dead finale next week oh my goshhhh
Associate Justice Elena Kagan
"Suppose a state said that, Because we think that the focus of marriage really should be on procreation, we are not going to give marriage licenses anymore to any couple where both people are over the age of 55. Would that be constitutional?"
Chief Justice John Roberts
"I'm not sure that it's right to view this as excluding a particular group. When the institution of marriage developed historically, people didn't get around and say, 'Let's have this institution, but let's keep out homosexuals.' The institution developed to serve purposes that, by their nature, didn't include homosexual couples."
Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor
"Outside of the marriage context, can you think of any other rational basis, reason, for a state using sexual orientation as a factor in denying homosexuals benefits or imposing burdens on them? Is there any other rational decision-making that the government could make? Denying them a job, not granting them benefits of some sort, any other decision?"
Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy
"There's substance to the point that sociological information is new. We have five years of information to weigh against 2,000 years of history or more."
I just finished reading the oral argument transcript and I think you picked out most of my favorite parts. However, can I just say that there was WAY too much discussion on standing? If, after all this, the case gets dismissed on some boring technical issue that 95% of Americans won't understand at all, I'm going to be PISSES.
ReplyDeleteAlso, WALKING DEAD.