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arkuatJerry Brown went on teevee and explained that long-established legal precedent means that any enactment which doesn't specifically declare itself retroactive is only prospective. That's an Attorney General's stated opinion, so while prop 8 (while it is being fought out in the courts) prevents California from marrying any more same-sex couples, the same-sex couples that already got married in California before election day are still married with full legal force in California. So the framers of prop 8 neglected to arrange for it to annull any existing marriages (and if they hadn't, perhaps it wouldn't have passed). Arnie hasn't exactly rushed out any executive orders to the county clerks today, and they are kind of standing around wondering what exactly they're supposed to tell the new same-sex couples who come up to the window for marriage licenses.
This is good news. Because I hadn't analyzed things to this extent, I went out with desperate energy to vote against prop 8 because, semiconsciously, I was afraid it would legally annull some of my friends' marriages. I'm extremely relieved to realize that this is not the case.
In other news, I'm still all on tenterhooks about prop 11 and the Coleman-Franken recount in Minnesota. And hoping for a secretary of state whose response to a national government that hates America is to say "Wow, I have to go start up a conversation with those people and find out what the problems are" rather than to ignore them. The Atlantic has a great historical article about the transitions appointment process. Right now I'm hoping that Obama asks, and Gates agrees, for the current Secretary of Defense to stay on the job through the coming winter, because the pundits say that makes it much more likely that Bill Richardson (who wants to fly to your poor America-hating country and have conversations with your government before sending the military there) might get offered the Secretary of State job. And yes, Mr. Richardson, I know you will be as happy as a clam governing New Mexico for the next two years, that you love your job, and that you aren't looking for a job. We all know that at least one part of that wasn't true when you were running for the White House, though.
Unfortunately, I have to confess that if I were in Gates's position (and I have no such capability), I'd want out of that job commitment tout de suite. Gates has had to clean up Rumsfeld's mess, and had to oversee the Surge, which I, like everyone else who hated the invasion of March 2003 as a criminal attack of national insanity, opposed when it was first proposed. He has had a hard job of work, but he, more than anyone else, has the experience to manage the draw-down and the transition to local government. I hope he will stay on through February at least, even though I understand he might find Biden's past advocacy for the Balkanization of Iraq extremely disturbing.
This is good news. Because I hadn't analyzed things to this extent, I went out with desperate energy to vote against prop 8 because, semiconsciously, I was afraid it would legally annull some of my friends' marriages. I'm extremely relieved to realize that this is not the case.
In other news, I'm still all on tenterhooks about prop 11 and the Coleman-Franken recount in Minnesota. And hoping for a secretary of state whose response to a national government that hates America is to say "Wow, I have to go start up a conversation with those people and find out what the problems are" rather than to ignore them. The Atlantic has a great historical article about the transitions appointment process. Right now I'm hoping that Obama asks, and Gates agrees, for the current Secretary of Defense to stay on the job through the coming winter, because the pundits say that makes it much more likely that Bill Richardson (who wants to fly to your poor America-hating country and have conversations with your government before sending the military there) might get offered the Secretary of State job. And yes, Mr. Richardson, I know you will be as happy as a clam governing New Mexico for the next two years, that you love your job, and that you aren't looking for a job. We all know that at least one part of that wasn't true when you were running for the White House, though.
Unfortunately, I have to confess that if I were in Gates's position (and I have no such capability), I'd want out of that job commitment tout de suite. Gates has had to clean up Rumsfeld's mess, and had to oversee the Surge, which I, like everyone else who hated the invasion of March 2003 as a criminal attack of national insanity, opposed when it was first proposed. He has had a hard job of work, but he, more than anyone else, has the experience to manage the draw-down and the transition to local government. I hope he will stay on through February at least, even though I understand he might find Biden's past advocacy for the Balkanization of Iraq extremely disturbing.
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Date: 2008-11-06 11:48 am (UTC)B
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Date: 2008-11-07 06:14 am (UTC)I would hope that the multiple challenges would take different lines of attack, but so far they all seem to be focusing on the same basic principle that the California constitution protects the rights of minorities from electoral attack by simple majorities. I hope that's because they all think the chances of success on that approach are better-warranted than on any other approach. When the Prop 8 supporters start whining about courts undermining democracy, I'm going to remind them that Hiram Johnson's ideas about democracy back in the early 20th c. were unusual and haven't exactly been endorsed by the rest of the world in the meantime.
Amending the constitution by a simple 50% majority in a single election? We certainly can't do that with the Federal constitution.
In the meantime, I still have yet to hear of Schwarzenegger issuing any clear directives to the county clerks. I think he's still following the late-ballot count on Prop 11 with bated breath.