Monday, May 18, 2015

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Performs "Constitutional" Gay Marriage


US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg put special emphasis on the word 'constitution' while performing a marriage ceremony for two men in Washington DC over the weekend.
The wedding of Shakespeare Theater Company artistic director Michael Kahn and Charles Mitchem, who works at an architecture firm in New York, took place Sunday in Washington's Embassy Row neighborhood.
Ginsburg, who was performing her second same-sex ceremony, said that she was pronouncing the two men married by the powers vested in her 'by the Constitution of the United States.'
Writes The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd: No one was sure if she was emphasizing her own beliefs or giving a hint to the outcome of the case the Supreme Court is considering whether to decide if same-sex marriage is constitutional.
Ginsburg was part of the 5-4 majority which two years ago gutted the Defense of Marriage Act and also allowed same-sex marriages to resume in California.
The high court heard oral arguments last month in cases out of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. In each of those cases, federal judges had struck down marriage bans but those decisions were reversed by the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
Last October, the justices passed on reviewing five other marriage cases which had pro-marriage decisions from federal appellate courts. The 6th Circuit’s ruling caused a split in the circuits and it was widely expected the Supreme Court would get involved this time to decide the issue for the nation.

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