Iowa Supreme Court Unanimously Affirms Constitutional Right to Marriage Equality!

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In yet another Constitutionally conservative ruling, from yet another state Supreme Court, the very American values of equal protection under the law and protection of the minority against the tyranny of the majority (and against the tyranny of Big Government intrusion into private lives) have been upheld in Iowa today!

The Iowa Supreme Court this morning upheld a Polk County judge’s 2007 ruling that marriage should not be limited to one man and one woman.

The ruling, viewed nationally and at home as a victory for the gay rights movement and a setback for social conservatives, means Iowa’s 5,800 gay couples can legally marry in Iowa beginning April 24.

Today’s decision makes Iowa the first Midwestern state, and the third in the country, to allow same-sex marriages. Lambda Legal, a gay rights group, financed the court battle and represented six couples who challenged Iowa’s 10-year-old ban on gay marriage.

Supreme Court Justice Mark Cady [ed note: a Republican appointee], who wrote the unanimous decision, at one point invoked the court’s first-ever decision, in 1839, which struck down slavery laws 17 years before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of a slave owner to treat a person as property.

In addition to real Constitutional conservatives who should be rejoicing today, true Fiscal conservatives should also appreciate today’s ruling, which is bound to be a boon to the state’s economy since “There are no residency rules for marriage in Iowa, so the rule would apply to any couple who wanted to travel to Iowa.”

Welcome into the light of civilized society and equality for all, Iowa! That’s three states down (MA, CT and IA), with just 47 more to go!

UPDATE: As the emailed headline linking to the following article was so darn good, we just had to offer them a link for their good work: “Court Decision Deals Gay Opponents a Hard Blow” 🙂

FURTHER UPDATE: Steve Benen at Washington Monthly points out: “In recent years, four state Supreme Courts have ruled in support of same sex-marriage…And what do all four have in common? Each was appointed to their respective state Supreme Court by a Republican governor.” Those darn ‘judicial activists’ strike again!

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Reader Comments on

Iowa Supreme Court Unanimously Affirms Constitutional Right to Marriage Equality!

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15 Responses

  1. 1)
    karen from illinois said on 4/3/2009 @ 1:01pm PT: [Permalink]

    something is up with the blog today..the hucklebee story doesnt have comments under it and the blog just stops (whr i can ussually scroll back thru old articles)

    the “joke” of a rep “keeping dem voters away” is more like a felony

    hucklebee makes true Christians everywhr look bad

    [Ed Note: Thanks, Karen! Bad code in that article on my part. Hopefully it’s now fixed. If not, please let me know! – BF]

  2. 3)
    cann4ing said on 4/3/2009 @ 3:12pm PT: [Permalink]

    COMMENT #2 [Permalink]
    … Agent 99 said on 4/3/2009 @ 2:36 pm PT..

    It’s going to happen in California too.

    _________________________

    Probably not until we get a new measure on the ballot to repeal Prop H8.

  3. 4)
    Agent 99 said on 4/3/2009 @ 3:49pm PT: [Permalink]

    Whut? The State Supremes don’t want to tackle whether the voters can pass an unconstitutional measure? Do they have a choice? And who gave it to them? Did Jerry decide not to pitch a fit? Whut?

  4. 6)
    Floridiot said on 4/4/2009 @ 7:44am PT: [Permalink]

    I want to see the next campaign season there

    The knuks will be drooling all over themselves to get elected.

    The state will belong to “the crazies” (neo-cons) for the next 20 years after this

  5. 9)
    Ancient said on 4/4/2009 @ 4:56pm PT: [Permalink]

    I saw that too 99. Now, will we see science “take it’s rightful place” as Obama declared? Not for revenge, but the for the good of the whole world. You know, I finally see the good in blow your face off; he’s an excellent example to all human beings of what not to be! 🙂

  6. 13)
    Jeannie Dean in LA-13 said on 4/5/2009 @ 1:46pm PT: [Permalink]

    Mr. Canning (#3) ~

    …really? I’d be very interested to hear/ read more about how you think the CAL Super-premies are going to handle this PROP 8 fiasco. Am I correct in understanding that there is roughly a 90 day ETA for this decision? Or can they sit on this one for as long as they choose? How much influence do you think this Iowa decision might have on them? Seems to be a perfect rubber-stamp validation of their original, unerring declaration on behalf of constitutional Rule of Law to me! What legal argument can they use to alter so much unblemished precedent – including THEIR OWN? I would just eat up (and digg and reddit and FB and tweet up) a guest article from you on this subject…

    Also, I know Emily Levy of Velvet Revolution and others worked tirelessly to prevent the results of PROP 8 from being certified, as there were the usual red-flag anomalies in the election results. (ie. slim margin of victory in the face of “incorrect” exit polls, late vote totals despite early declaration of victory from prop8onents, the completely bogus shifting of blame to the 70% blacks to explain the last minute shift needed for passage, etc…)

    I think Bev Harris has some stunning time slices
    that showed votes being added and subtracted in strange fits and starts throughout election night into the next morning, and the many subsequent days it took to complete the count. Does anyone know if that complete data was ever coalated, released, or investigated more thoroughly? …

    Personally, I don’t think Prop 8 even passed in the first place. I look forward to this fight as victory inevitable.

    Thanks, Iowa.

  7. 14)
    FreedomOfInformationAct said on 4/6/2009 @ 12:01pm PT: [Permalink]

    Prop H8 will fail, just as Prop 22 did. It’s coming and there is nothing you can do to stop it!

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