The Supreme Court is scheduled to decide today whether it will hear cases connected to both California’s Proposition 8 and the federal government’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In both cases, appeals courts have tossed out the marriage bans, so if the court refuses to hear them, gaymarriage recognition will become legal in California and the federal government will have to recognize gay marriages in states where it is legally recognized. (Personally, I can’t imagine the Supreme Court not taking up the DOMA case, but Prop. 8 is much harder to predict)
Anyway, while everybody was focused on these cases, a federal judge in Nevada bucked the current trend and ruled that Nevada does have the authority to ban recognition of gay marriage (full ruling available at the linked BuzzFeed story).
Furthermore Judge Robert C. Jones has trotted out the more tiresome social-conservative, big-government arguments to allow for the ban. Procreation is required for the species to survive. Ergo, the government has a legitimate interest in controlling whose marriages are recognized. Otherwise we won’t have families! Without the government stamp, people will stop getting married and mankind will be doomed. Doomed!
CONTINUED at Reason. Written by Scott Shackford.
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