One of the problems with the Democrats' partisan judicial filibusters is that when a federal court nominee comes along who should be stopped, they no longer have any ammunition left. The Senate Democrats, after all, are already pulling out all the stops to derail federal bench nominees Miguel Estrada because he's a conservative Hispanic (with no anti-gay record, by the way) and Priscilla Owens (for, they argue, being too "pro-business" and upholding parental notification for minors who want abortions). Now along comes Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, nominated to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court. Pryor is so bad the Log Cabin Republicans have come out against his confirmation. A advocate for sodomy laws that criminalize homosexual sex, Pryor once rescheduled a family vacation to Disney World in order to avoid Gay Day.
Yes, the Democrats may still filibuster -- but having spent so much of their capital against judicial nominees who, politics aside, should have easily been confirmed, they now have little credibility to make a moral stand when it's needed.
The Storm to Come.
The U.S. media still doesn't get the historic impact of Canada's allowing same-sex marriages. The Washington Post reported North America's first legal same-sex weddings on page A25. Unlike Vermont's civil unions, which are separate and distinct from heterosexual marriages (sort of "marriage lite"), the Canadians have incorporated gays and lesbians fully under their existing marriage laws.
Canada will perform marriages for U.S. citizens, who will then return home and sue to have their unions legally recognized by their states, which means challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act (and, depending on where they reside, state DOMAs) as unconstitutional. That's when the fun will really begin. Also, if mutual recognition of marriages is the subject of a U.S.-Canadian treaty, that could also be a factor.
IGF contributing author Dale Carpenter
warns a backlash could be brewing, and advises that a go-slow,
state by state approach might be the best way to avoid a
contstitutional amendment banning gay marriage altogether.
--Stephen H. Miller