In the big picture, the Obama win is far more important than the California loss. The reason is that 2 liberal Supreme Court Justices are likely to retire in the next presidential term. If McCain had been elected, they would have gone to more conservative judges and I believe the Supreme Court would have become 6-3 conservative. With Obama, we keep that from happening. That preserves the right to abortions and several other personal freedoms that conservatives usually oppose, including the right of gay families to be recognized as equals under the law.
I agree. It was the judicial appointment issue that made me most apprehensive about a possible McCain victory. Nonetheless, the California vote still makes it hard to be completely enthusiastic about yesterday's results.
I'll admit I'm rather ignorant on how such things work however. The supreme court in that state already ruled that same sex marriages were legal. Can voters actually overturn that, or is this more considered some kind of mandate for the new government?
It's so different down there. As I understand it, the courts ruled that a ban on SSM violated the California constitution, and Prop 8 in response simply amends the constitution to allow the ban. It is shocking that a constitution can be amended by a simple 50% vote - the whole point of constitutional rights is that minorities are protected from the whims of the majority.
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I'll admit I'm rather ignorant on how such things work however. The supreme court in that state already ruled that same sex marriages were legal. Can voters actually overturn that, or is this more considered some kind of mandate for the new government?
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