Clarifying the state of play on same-sex marriage

When it comes to same-sex marriage, the current state of play can be a little confusing, consisting as it does of a mixture of legislative and judicial decisions. Since the US Supreme Court has declined to hear, for now at least, cases that deal with this issue, we are left with a patchwork of laws passed by referenda and legislatures and state and federal courts. We have basically three different situations:
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Why the Supremes voted to reject the same-sex marriage cases

The more inscrutable an important organization is, the more effort that goes into trying to discern why they behave the way they do. The US Supreme Court is a prime example. It almost never gives reasons as to why it accepts or rejects cases for review and has been quite successful in having the justices and their clerks not reveal their internal discussions and workings, at least until their papers are released long after they have retired or died.
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What you should do if you are stopped by the police

I have been writing a lot about the abuses by police during traffic stops and in response to one such post, reader culuriel asked a good question as to what one should do in such a situation and what the ACLU recommends. I looked into it and came across this video produced by the ACLU that features comedian Elon James White addressing this very question that is both informative and amusing. It is part of their Know You Rights program that gives more explicit details what to do in a variety of situations.
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The First Amendment does not mean what these people think it means

Ok folks, let’s get one thing clear. The First Amendment guarantee of free speech does not mean that you can say anything to anyone at any time in any place in any capacity. That this need to be clarified at all is astounding but clearly some people just do not get it, as when a state trooper Brian Hamilton started questioning Ellen Bogan after he pulled her over.
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Surprising Supreme Court decision on same sex marriage

The US Supreme Court said today that it will not hear any of the seven same-sex marriage cases that were appealed to them. Appeals Courts in all those cases had ruled in favor of overturning bans on such marriages but injunctions had been in place preventing them from actually taking place until the Supreme Court ruled. By saying they will not hear those cases, the injunctions become void and now marriages can go ahead in five new states Indiana, Wisconsin, Utah, Oklahoma, and Virginia.
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Notorious RBG interview

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has emerged as the leading liberal voice on the US Supreme Court. At age 81, she is also the oldest justice. She gave an interview to the magazine Elle in which she discussed, among other things, why those who have been publicly urging her to retire while president Obama is still in office so that he can appoint someone else in her mold are misguided and that she has no plans to retire.
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Oklahoma ten commandments monument gets reprieve

An Oklahoma county judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of a Baptist minister charging that the 6-foot tall granite Ten Commandments monument that was placed on grounds of the state capital violated the state’s constitution. The judge blocked the lawsuit from even going to trial. The ruling will be appealed to the state supreme court and there is another lawsuit pending in a federal court that is scheduled for trial on March 10, 2015.
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The fallout from Hobby Lobby

The Hobby Lobby case, where the US Supreme court ruled that under some vaguely defined circumstances, owners of companies had right to impose their religious views as company policies as if the companies were individuals under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), was widely predicted to open up a Pandora’s box with others seeking similar exemptions from following the law because of their ‘sincerely held religious beliefs’.

And lo, what the prophets foretold has come to pass.
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