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SCOTUSblog’s Tom Goldstein says a same-sex-marriage victory in DOMA almost precludes a same-sex-marriage victory in the Prop 8 case. I disagree.

Students of Windsor and Hollingsworth have always recognized a basic tension between the theories of gay-rights advocates in the cases.  The challenge to DOMA is undergirded by a sense that marriage is a matter for state rather than federal regulation.  The challenge to Proposition 8 is a direct challenge to just such a decision by […]

Looks like DOMA will be stricken … if the Court decides the issue at all in this case. [Expanded.and updated.]

Final update: #scotus 80% likely to strike down #doma. J Kennedy suggests it violates states’ rights; 4 other Justices see as gay rights. –Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog, on Twitter And: “The question is whether or not the federal government under a federalism system has the authority to regulate marriage,” Justice Kennedy said during oral arguments. […]

Out of the Mouths of Hypocrites: Scalia Says Citizens United Was Wrongly Decided.

Yes, that’s right. Scalia said Citizens United was wrongly decided. He said it yesterday, at the argument on the constitutionality of California’s Prop. 8.  He also said that the right to bear arms doesn’t, after all, preclude the federal government and the states from enacting gun-ownership restrictions as they wish, so the recent Court opinions […]