Non-Deranged Driver Operates Vehicle Safely, Injuring No One
Non-News Not at Eleven
As Patterico recently pointed out, sometimes what the press doesn’t say makes a bigger difference than what it does say. The handful of court decisions endorsing gay marriage are a prime example. Take, for example, the recent case of Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, in which the Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-3 that the Massachusetts Constitution now guarantees a right to gay marriage. That case was in the press for months upon months while the decision was coming “real soon now.” Why? Because everyone knew that in all likelihood, the SJC would rule exactly the way it did. The earlier suits brought in Hawaii and Vermont got somewhat less coverage while the decisions were pending, but got ample coverage once they were decided. Between those three states and a California mayor facing no consequences for ordering thousands of illegal “weddings,” one might be tempted to conclude that at least in recent years, gay marriage advocates have been batting 1.000.
Such a statement would come as news to Harold Donald Standhardt and Tod Allen Keltner, a gay couple from Maricopa County, Arizona. Last summer, only days after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, Mr. Standhardt and Mr. Keltner applied for a marriage license, which was denied pursuant to Ariz. Rev. Stat § 25-101(c), which prohibits marriages between members of the same sex, and A.R.S. § 25-125(A), which defines a valid marriage as one between a man and a woman. The issue went straight to the Court of Appeals, which ruled unanimously on October 8, 2003 that there is no right to gay marriage under either the Arizona or the U.S. Constitution.
Have you heard of this case before? I know I hadn’t, until I stumbled across the pro and con articles on gay marriage in this month’s issue of Arizona Attorney. If this ruling is upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court, as it probably will be, look for the story on p. E47 of the L.A. Dog Trainer.
March 5th, 2004 at 9:29 pm
That California mayor ordered all those people to get married? I had no idea the situation was so dire. He needs to be usurped, and quick. Got any marines nearby?
March 5th, 2004 at 10:13 pm
He didn’t order anyone to get married, or even to pretend to get married, but he did order his clerks to solemnize illegal marriages.
March 6th, 2004 at 3:34 pm
Hehe…I relied a fair amount on Standhardt in my moot court competition brief on the question of whether a state must recognize a foreign state’s same sex union.
March 6th, 2004 at 12:30 am
Dog Bites Man.
Court rulings on gay marriage Non-News Not at Eleven” href=”http://xrlq.com/MT-Archives/001725.php”>you may not have read about….