That news, reported by The Los Angeles Times, adds a new dimension to two cases already steeped in emotion. The first case, to be heard Tuesday, centers on Proposition 8, which bars same-sex couples in California from marrying. Justice Roberts’s cousin, Jean Podrasky, lives in San Francisco and wants to marry her partner.
On Wednesday, the court will hear another gay marriage case, on the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as one man and one woman for the purpose of federal benefits.
Now she can get married. Chief Justice Roberts is not the only occurrence. The article also states:
In 2004, then-Vice President Dick Cheney became one of the first top Republicans to announce support for gay marriage, after his daughter, Mary Cheney, came out.
Roberts’s cousin is hopeful about what her famous relative will do.
“He is a smart man,” Ms. Podrasky told the L.A. Times. “He is a good man. I believe he sees where the tide is going. I do trust him. I absolutely trust that he will go in a good direction.”
Podrasky is Roberts’s first cousin on his mother’s side; Roberts’s mother is her godmother. She arrived in Washington on Sunday with her partner of four years, Grace Fasano. Podrasky obtained courtroom seats by e-mailing Roberts’s sister and then going through his secretary, according to the Times. Roberts knows she is gay and knows she will be there, the paper reports.
Podrasky says she has no knowledge of her cousin’s views on same-sex marriage, though she expects the high court to overturn Prop. 8.
If she “has no knowledge” then she is very good at making predictions. Maybe we need to ask her about the stock market. If Chief Justice Roberts knows she is gay he probably also knows she wanted to marry her partner.
My Blog article states:
The Supreme Court on Monday turned away appeals from five states looking to prohibit gay marriage, effectively legalizing same-sex marriage in those states and likely others -- but also leaving the issue unresolved nationally.
The justices rejected appeals from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. The court’s order immediately ends delays on gay marriage in those states.
Couples in six other states – Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming – also should be able to get married in short order. Those states would be bound by the same appellate rulings that were put on hold pending the Supreme Court’s review. That would make same-sex marriage legal in 30 states and the District of Columbia.
With no other state cases currently pending before the court, the decision to reject the appeals means the justices – for now – will not be considering the question of same-sex marriage nationwide.
What the Supreme Court is really saying is we are not ruling right now, but we will be ruling. They do not need to rule right now because turning the cases away did what the Supreme Court wanted doing that would do. That is why they did what they did. People in position of influence with personal agendas is what is causing what is taking place with same-sex marriage. This move is just the Supreme Court trying to act like they have not already made up their minds. Actions are what shows where the heart is. Their actions show they have already made up their mind and what the people want does not matter to them. Everything taking place with same-sex marriage is going against what the Congress and the people voted for.