"Out of the Blue" - Julian Casablancas
Somewhere along the way, my hopefulness turned to sadness
Somewhere along the way , my sadness turned to bitterness
Somewhere along the way, my bitterness turned to anger
Somewhere along the way, my anger turned to vengeance
I heard this first thing this morning and it seemed to fit my mood perfectly. Especially after hearing a story on npr about redistricting and how the 2010 elections should set up the Republicans perfectly for this all important exercise.
I took a cursory glance at the brief filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by the pro Prop 8 side, which basically argues that tradition and procreation form the rational basis to uphold discrimination against gays in marriage. I am not persuaded. One commenter at TPM who appears to know his stuff also points out that the Ninth Circuit specifically asked the Appellants to address the issue of standing under the Supreme Court decision in Arizonans for Official English -- and basically the pro-Prop 8 lawyers blow off the case, deeming the difficult aspects of that decision for them as non-binding dicta by the Court. This could prove to be a highly problematic tactic I suspect.
I am of the view that the Ninth Circuit may well uphold the lower court by relying on the standing issue, which will almost certainly trigger an appeal to the Supreme Court, one which would give the Court the opportunity to avoid a decision on the merits by means of this procedural argument. It will be interesting to see what happens.
What's on your collective minds?
