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Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional[W:183]

danarhea

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia's attorney general has concluded that the state's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional and he will no longer defend it in federal lawsuits challenging it, his office said Thursday.

Elections have consequences, in this case a good consequence. No longer will millions of Virginians' taxpayer dollars be wasted defending the indefensible.

Article is here.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Elections have consequences, in this case a good consequence. No longer will millions of Virginians' taxpayer dollars be wasted defending the indefensible.

Article is here.

Awesome the victories and stones in the road to EQUAL RIGHTS for gays just doesn't stop :)

PA's AG did this also but the governor is defending the cases, once they get to court though they will fail
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

SSM will be a reality in all 50 states within 5 years; it's amazing how fast these laws are being overturned.

The legal precedence set by the SCOTUS is very clear, laws preventing SSM are a no go.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

The legal precedence set by the SCOTUS is very clear, laws preventing SSM are a no go.

You clearly misspoke, SCOTUS did not say that at all.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

SSM will be a reality in all 50 states within 5 years; it's amazing how fast these laws are being overturned.

The legal precedence set by the SCOTUS is very clear, laws preventing SSM are a no go.

so true so true

these discriminatory laws are falling like dominoes after SCOTUS ruled down DOMA its awesome and its driving the bigots crazy
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

I'm rather shocked he did this considering the "will of the people" tripe. That's something politicians have mostly been spineless to confront, even with bans from a decade ago. Then again, he's not elected, so i guess it's not as surprising as if a governor did this.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

actually he is probably violating the law just like Obama did.

the law was passed by the people of the state. it is up to the AG to defend the law regardless if he agrees with the law or not. just like it is Obama's job to uphold the law of the land.
you don't get to pick and choose which laws you want to defend or not defend.

that isn't how it works. for some reason these people forget this.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

You clearly misspoke, SCOTUS did not say that at all.

I agree they didn't say this at all. this case is going to go back before the SCOTUS in fact Utah I think is already headed there.
the SCOTUS will have to make a decision this is the problem you get when you have some states trying to force other states to follow their laws.

the SCOTUS will not be able to punt this down the road like they did with the CA case. they are going to have to make a ruling.
given the nature of the court it will go 4/5 for kennedy will swing to the other side.

when that comes down you are going to see a ton of lawsuits with other people with alternative lifestyles filing for the same thing.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

actually he is probably violating the law just like Obama did.

the law was passed by the people of the state. it is up to the AG to defend the law regardless if he agrees with the law or not. just like it is Obama's job to uphold the law of the land.
you don't get to pick and choose which laws you want to defend or not defend.

that isn't how it works. for some reason these people forget this.

no, it's his job as attorney general to *interpret* the law, and that's what he did. He believes it unconstitutional federally, which it is. God forbid virginia isn't reviled in history for being among the last states to **** on yet another minority group.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

SSM will be a reality in all 50 states within 5 years; it's amazing how fast these laws are being overturned.

The legal precedence set by the SCOTUS is very clear, laws preventing SSM are a no go.

You clearly misspoke, SCOTUS did not say that at all.

You're sort of both right.

It's true that SCOTUS dumped the Prop 8 case on lack of standing, rather than ruling on the merits of the case.

However, the manner in which they rejected the claim does set an important fact straight: the "pro family" groups supporting same-sex marriage bans don't have standings to bring a same-sex marriage case before the court because they aren't affected by the case. So, the Supreme Court legally acknowledged that straight people aren't affected in any negative way by two dudes getting married. This makes the case for a same-sex marriage ban much harder to make.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

actually he is probably violating the law just like Obama did.

the law was passed by the people of the state. it is up to the AG to defend the law regardless if he agrees with the law or not. just like it is Obama's job to uphold the law of the land.
you don't get to pick and choose which laws you want to defend or not defend.

that isn't how it works. for some reason these people forget this.


Obama didn't violate the law. DOMA was in force until SCOTUS ruled otherwise.
Enforcing a law and defending a law in court aren't the same thing.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

So he's just not going to defend laws the people supported because he doesn't like it.

Real classy. Just ignore your job because you don't like the law. Who is supposed to represent the people who did vote for the bans and stand up for them?
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

So he's just not going to defend laws the people supported because he doesn't like it.

Real classy. Just ignore your job because you don't like the law. Who is supposed to represent the people who did vote for the bans and stand up for them?

Let's put you in the shoes of the VA AG.

On what grounds would you defend the ban, given the fact that court after court has ruled such bans unconstitutional? Particularly since SCOTUS has acknowledged that straight people aren't negatively impacted by same-sex marriage.

Also keeping in mind "people voted for it" doesn't inherently make something constitutional.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Oh, and digsbe, it's outright disingenuous to suggest this isn't defending a law because he "doesn't like it." He's not defending the law because he believes it to be unconstitutional and has no grounds on which to defend it. You really should quit trying to dodge actual discussion of the issue like that.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

So, the Supreme Court legally acknowledged that straight people aren't affected in any negative way by two dudes getting married.

Unless specified, only the specific people that brought the case had no standing.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Unless specified, only the specific people that brought the case had no standing.

Their only interest was to vindicate the constitutional validity of a generally applicable California law. As this Court has repeatedly held, such a “generalized grievance”—no matter how sincere—is insufficient to confer standing.

Can you name an individual likely to have that standing, and explain what their specific grievance might be?
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

I'm curious what the Right Wing fundies will do when SSM marriage finally hits every state. Try harder to pray the gays away? Move to an island somewhere and start over?
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Can you name an individual likely to have that standing, and explain what their specific grievance might be?

The state of California. It is their law.

I'm curious what the Right Wing fundies will do when SSM marriage finally hits every state.

Nothing important.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Can you name an individual likely to have that standing, and explain what their specific grievance might be?
The state of California. It is their law.


Last I checked, a "State" is not an "Individual".

Also, the State choose not to defend the law, hence the supporters doing so.



>>>>
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Last I checked, a "State" is not an "Individual".

States can defend their laws. Your want for an "individual" has no legal standing.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

States can defend their laws. Your want for an "individual" has no legal standing.


Of course a State can defend their laws, that wasn't the question that was originally asked. The State of California choose not to defend the law (actually not to appeal the District Courts ruling). The proponents then proceeded to attempt to replace the State in the proceedings, since they were acting as the proponents of the law and did not show standing (i.e. an individual directly harmed by the law) their participation was dismissed.



>>>>
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Of course a State can defend their laws, that wasn't the question that was originally asked.

Then the state would have standing.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Obama didn't violate the law. DOMA was in force until SCOTUS ruled otherwise.
Enforcing a law and defending a law in court aren't the same thing.

they are exactly the same. yes he did. he has refused to uphold our immigration laws and in fact has enforcement of those laws without congressional approval.
whether it is the state AG or the federal AG they job is to protect and up hold the law of the land. not get to pick and choose what items they wish or do not wish to uphold.

DOMA was shot down saying that the federal government doesn't have the right to determine marriage. that it is a state's issue. this issue is going to go back to the SCOTUS and they will have to give a ruling that states have the right to define marriage how they wish.

what is happening is judges are taking the most liberal possible view of what the SC ruled on even though the SC can a very narrow ruling.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

Oh, and digsbe, it's outright disingenuous to suggest this isn't defending a law because he "doesn't like it." He's not defending the law because he believes it to be unconstitutional and has no grounds on which to defend it. You really should quit trying to dodge actual discussion of the issue like that.

It doesn't matter what he believes. that isn't his job. his job is to defend and uphold the laws of the state. not pick and choose which laws he likes or doesn't like.

you keep bringing up an irrelevant argument.
 
Re: Va. AG's office: Gay marriage ban unconstitutional

So he's just not going to defend laws the people supported because he doesn't like it.

Real classy. Just ignore your job because you don't like the law. Who is supposed to represent the people who did vote for the bans and stand up for them?

There isn't anyone someone would have to hire a law firm to try and defend the law. of course the court will rule that they don't have standing that it is the state that is suppose to which means that there is no one to defend the will of the people.
 
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