Ahead of a potentially historic Supreme Court ruling, leading Republicans are vowing to defy any decision that sanctions same-sex marriage and are challenging the very legitimacy of the high court.I've often said Sen. Cruz is "illegitimate," though not quite so politely... [/sigh]
With a decision in Obergefell v. Hodges expected before the end of June, conservatives are confronted with what was only a few years ago a nearly unthinkable possibility: a Supreme Court decision that decisively makes same-sex marriage a constitutional right.
Fearing a huge setback to their cause, opponents of same-sex marriage, including some of the major contenders for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, are darkly warning that they will not "honor" an adverse Supreme Court decision. Some are calling for civil disobedience. Others are moving to strip the Supreme Court of its authority to decide whether gay couples should be allowed to marry, while others have questioned whether the court has that jurisdiction in the first place. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has said that such a decision would be "fundamentally illegitimate."
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The party of "law and order" as recently as the Nixon presidency, today's GOP is ready, even eager, to defy laws and even constitutional rulings it doesn't like. But what did we expect? I noticed that Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart (R) has announced that his office will NOT be ready with the necessary paperwork to issue gay marriage licenses, effectively saying that anyone who doesn't like that can just (ahem) suck on it. Willful defiance of a Supreme Court ruling: I wonder how Mr. Stanart would like the view from inside a prison cell?
On the plus side, Dallas County seems to take another attitude. This may be the only time you'll get me to admit that, in this one matter, Dallas is superior to Houston. Goddamn it.
I remember some other officials who decided to defy the Supreme Court. The 101st Airborne changed their minds. It's a good question, however, whether the current resident of the Oval Office has the balls to deploy the Airborne if necessary. He didn't when the Bundy insurrection happened, after all....
ReplyDelete'Tux, my father's youngest brother was in the 101st, jumped behind German lines enough times to come home with the shakes and a bad case of what today we call PTSD, but damned if Wesley and his unit (or their successors today) couldn't do this job! I have to admire my Uncle Wesley even if he did wear a flattop haircut to his dying day. :-) Like you, I doubt our current Prez could find it in himself to take the political chance of deploying them over a pro-gay-marriage Supreme Court ruling. We can always hope; after all, President O is almost done, and that makes him almost invulnerable, or so one might think...
DeleteIMNSHO, County Clerk Stan Stanart should be tossed in the slammer if he deliberately fails to comply with a Supreme Court ruling; maybe his replacement, even if he too is a Rethuglican, would then be inclined to comply.