{"id":51341,"date":"2015-06-02T14:34:34","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T20:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/02\/alabama-tries-to-be-oh-so-tricksy-to-keep-banning-gay-marriage.html"},"modified":"2015-06-02T14:34:34","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T20:34:34","slug":"alabama-tries-to-be-oh-so-tricksy-to-keep-banning-gay-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/02\/alabama-tries-to-be-oh-so-tricksy-to-keep-banning-gay-marriage.html","title":{"rendered":"Alabama tries to be oh-so-tricksy to keep banning gay marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Faced with the prospect of an unfavorable SCOTUS ruling this month, the Alabama legislature thinks it has found the perfect tricksy way of foiling those dastardly justices.<\/p>\n

They're getting rid of marriage licenses.<\/p>\n

Instead, couples (and an officiant) would sign a contract and file it with the state. One of the clauses would be that the couple is "legally authorized to be married" in the fair state of Alabama. "Aha! We're not discriminating in marriage licenses, so the Supreme Court ruling won't affect us!"<\/p>\n

How goofy is this? Let me count the ways …<\/p>\n

First off, though the law indicates the minimum form of the contract, it by no means limits that content. I foresee all sorts of interesting pre-nup stuff coming into play.<\/p>\n

Second, for being so concerned over the "sanctity" of matrimony (not to mention "tradition"), reducing it to a contract seems … not very sanctified (or, rather, seems to be an oddly progressive way of looking at marriage).<\/p>\n

But most importantly, it's not going to work.<\/i> The Supreme Court isn't going to rule "Thou shallt issue marriage license to gay couples." They're going to say that blocking marriage on the basis of sexual orientation violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. This maneuver still does just that, and any federal judge who glances at it will make that crystal clear. And SCOTUS, if further petitioned, is not<\/i> going to look favorably on such a dodge.<\/p>\n

(This is also why arguments that the Constitution doesn't give the federal government the right to dictate marriage law miss the point: the cases before SCOTUS are not about what the Constitution says about marriage, but what it says about equal protection of the law.)<\/i><\/p>\n

Are the politicians in Alabama really this dim? Or driven to do anything they can to Stop The Evil Gays? Or is it simply a way of making political points with their base?<\/p>\n

Hopefully we'll get to see.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nBill scrapping marriage licenses hits Alabama House after passing Senate<\/a><\/span>
\nHUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – This month, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the issue of same-sex marriage. It should settle a lot of questions once and for all. At least, that’s the idea. …\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faced with the prospect of an unfavorable SCOTUS ruling this month, the Alabama legislature thinks it has found the perfect tricksy way of foiling those dastardly justices. They're getting rid of marriage licenses. Instead, couples (and an officiant) would sign a contract and file it with the state. One of the clauses would be that … Continue reading “Alabama tries to be oh-so-tricksy to keep banning gay marriage”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49393,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/27\/ten-commandments-judge-cries-tyranny-over-gay-marriage-ruling.html","url_meta":{"origin":51341,"position":0},"title":""Ten Commandments" judge cries "Tyranny!" over gay marriage ruling","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 27-Jan-15 3:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Ah, Roy Moore -- did you never meet a federal court ruling you thought didn't apply to you?Quoth Moore: \"As you know, nothing in the United States Constitution grants the federal government the authority to redefine the institution of marriage.\"No, but the 14th Amendment does allow the federal government (in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49740,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/04\/alabama-supreme-court-longs-for-the-50s-the-1850s.html","url_meta":{"origin":51341,"position":1},"title":"Alabama Supreme Court longs for the 50s. The 1850s","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 4-Mar-15 6:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Federal court rulings? We don't need no stinking federal court rulings!\" Because state nullification worked so well last time.And for such (pardon me) bullshit rationales:The Alabama court ruled state bans on gay marriage aren't discriminatory since they ban both men and women from marrying people of the same sex, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":138881,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/05\/25\/the-end-of-marriage-in-alabama-not-really.html","url_meta":{"origin":51341,"position":2},"title":"The End of Marriage in Alabama (not really)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-May-19 12:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Dropping most state marriage paperwork is a good thing for sketchy reasons.","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/wedding-rings2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":128263,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/09\/because-separate-but-equal-is-such-a-keen-idea.html","url_meta":{"origin":51341,"position":3},"title":"Because "separate but equal" is such a keen idea","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 9-Oct-15 7:09am","format":false,"excerpt":"An Alabama judge thinks that since the federal government is the one mandating same-sex marriage, they should be the one licensing and performing such marriages, not state and county officials.Judge Enslen appears to have skipped class when \"separate but equal\" treatment of groups during the civil rights era was put\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131699,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/01\/roy-moore-has-been-suspended-again-from-his-judicial-role.html","url_meta":{"origin":51341,"position":4},"title":"Roy Moore has been suspended (again) from his judicial role","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 1-Oct-16 8:34am","format":false,"excerpt":"Moore, as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, had told lower courts in Alabama that they could -- in fact, had to -- ignore the SCOTUS Obergefell ruling that said preventing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. He was suspended for the rest of his term by the state's own judicial\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32149,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/01\/13\/those-crafty-tricksy-canadians.html","url_meta":{"origin":51341,"position":5},"title":"Those crafty, tricksy Canadians!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 13-Jan-13 1:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Make sure you read the fine print, Detroit! Especially the French parts! Embedded Link The bridge to Canada The ability of rich people to convince ordinary people to go against their own interests to benefit the wealthy is quite extraordinary. It seems like all you have to do is appeal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}