<story><title>Supreme Court Strikes Down Defense of Marriage Act</title><url>http://projects.nytimes.com/live-dashboard/2013-06-26-supreme-court-gay-marriage#sha=f2fa9994b</url><text></text></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>btilly</author><text>This discusses two rulings.  DOMA and Proposition 8.  I like the DOMA decision.  I like the specific result of the Proposition 8 ruling, but do not like the way they got there.&lt;p&gt;The issue with proposition 8 is that California lost, and then chose not to appeal.  Lawyers for the group that passed proposition 8 then stepped in and took the case.  Their argument basically was that if they were not allowed to do this, then any proposition passed by Californians that the government did not like the government could unpass by posting a lackluster defense and then not appealing it.&lt;p&gt;The 9th circuit did not know whether they should grant standing.  They remanded it to the California Supreme Court to decide that.  The California Supreme Court said that under California law they did have standing.  The 9th heard it.  The Supreme Court has now disagreed.&lt;p&gt;But I agree with that argument from the supporters of proposition 8.  California gives voters the power to pass proposition that the state does not like.  The state has now been handed a legal tool which undermines that in federal court.  (I do not understand precedent well enough to know whether state courts will look to the Supreme Court or the California Supreme Court on this.)</text></comment>
<story><title>Supreme Court Strikes Down Defense of Marriage Act</title><url>http://projects.nytimes.com/live-dashboard/2013-06-26-supreme-court-gay-marriage#sha=f2fa9994b</url><text></text></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>bhousel</author><text>Here is the text of the ruling.  Supreme Court rulings always start out with a very readable syllabus which provides an overview of the ruling, recommended read:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_g2bh.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.supremecourt.gov&amp;#x2F;opinions&amp;#x2F;12pdf&amp;#x2F;12-307_g2bh.pdf&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>