Two Oregon County-Level Judges Stop Performing Marriages, Citing Personal Conscience

Katherine Krueger at TPM sketches the story.

Judge Vance Day

Judge Thomas Kohl

In the judges' defense, some are pointing out that Oregon permits, but does not require, judges to perform marriages. To that, I can only say that such a state law would allow such judges to remain silent on the subject, but not to announce a policy of refusing to perform marriages, their announcements coming specifically in response to the legalizing of same-sex marriages. If a judge has the power to perform a marriage and ceases to exercise that power directly in response to the now legally required institution of gay marriage, that judge should resign his/her office or prepare to be jailed in contempt.

When judges begin playing legal tricks to avoid the clear intent of a Supreme Court decision, they no longer serve their rightful purpose. That has been true when I've disagreed with the Court's decision, and it must in turn be true when I happen to agree with the SCOTUS decision.

Otherwise... we have no justice. Those among us who are unwilling to see justice subverted to the religious purposes of individuals must draw the line RIGHT HERE.

(The usual warning: IANAL.)

‘Politicians In Robes’

Adam Liptak at NYT examines several studies on the degree to which Supreme Court justices and other federal judges decide cases in ways representative of the politics (specifically, the party) of the president who appointed them. The short answer: the federal judiciary is thoroughly politicized, especially recently in the tendency of Republican-appointed justices to support the (extreme) conservative side in politically charged decisions.

(The title of the post is a fragment of a quotation from the conclusion of Epstein, Landes and Posner's book, The Behavior of Federal Judges, as quoted by Liptak: “... federal judges are not just politicians in robes, though that is part of what they are.”)

An Unpleasant Example Of Why I Say This Is No Longer A Political Blog

If this were a political blog, I would be obligated to try to debate wingnuts on the effectively indisputable fact that the current Supreme Court acts in a primarily partisan political mode on many issues of greatest import to ordinary American citizens... such as this one.

The Five...
and I don't mean Russian composers!

But it's not a political blog, so instead I'll have a glass of wine and a snack, watch YouTube videos or bad broadcast TV, and let the ACA die an unnatural death at the hands of that all-too-political Supreme Court. Hey, what I propose to do... actually not to do... is the American way, right?

Watch Bill Moyers As He Interviews Linda Greenhouse And Dahlia Lithwick On Hobby Lobby And The Supreme Court...

... but put your credit card and your bullhorn out of reach first, because you may find yourself thinking you need to make a trip to DC to engage in a bit of civil disobedience... no, just watch the video to inform your own condemnation of this decision, its consequences even in the short term, and the whole bloody Catholic Supreme Court as currently configured by GeeDubya Bush and Barry Obama. I can pretty much guarantee you that if you are a reader of this site, this interview will make you angry!