Everyone seems to be focusing on that, from the Administration's Prop 8 brief. What they're missing, I think, is two-fold: the Fourteenth Amendment argument lays a strong foundation for finding all those 30-odd marriage amendments and state DOMAs unconstitutional, even if the Administration isn't calling for that specifically. (And it can't really -- given its position on states' rights in its DOMA brief, and Obama's stated position that he'd rather leave it to the states, that would be ludicrous.) If the Court accepts that argument, it leaves all those laws and amendments even more vulnerable to challenge than they already are.
What's really important is the call for heightened scrutiny of anti-gay laws in general, which is what the scrutiny argument boils down to. If the Court decides that gays as a class fall under the criteria for heightened scrutiny -- and not only the Administration's brief, but AFER's as well, make a very strong argument for that, as do the filings in U.S. v. Windsor -- those state anti-marriage amendments are toast.
Remember, this is Obama we're dealing with. He's a strategic thinker, not a tactician, and doesn't lay all his cards out. He's setting up a game-plan while maintaining his states' rights stance on marriage. I really wish he wouldn't do that, but he does.
What's really important is the call for heightened scrutiny of anti-gay laws in general, which is what the scrutiny argument boils down to. If the Court decides that gays as a class fall under the criteria for heightened scrutiny -- and not only the Administration's brief, but AFER's as well, make a very strong argument for that, as do the filings in U.S. v. Windsor -- those state anti-marriage amendments are toast.
Remember, this is Obama we're dealing with. He's a strategic thinker, not a tactician, and doesn't lay all his cards out. He's setting up a game-plan while maintaining his states' rights stance on marriage. I really wish he wouldn't do that, but he does.
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