Top Items:
Tom Goldstein / SCOTUSblog:
The Proposition 8 oral argument — Much will be written about the Proposition 8 oral argument. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that the Court probably will not have the five votes necessary to get to any result at all, and almost certainly will not have five votes to decide the merits of whether Proposition 8 is constitutional.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Reuters, Mother Jones, Towleroad News #gay, American Foundation …, Zandar Versus The Stupid, National Review, Power Line, his vorpal sword, Gawker, The PJ Tatler, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, ProfessorBainbridge.com, The Week, Angry Bear, Washington Wire, The Dish, Alas, a Blog, Althouse, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Maddow Blog, Washington Post, Post Politics, The Rumpus.net, The Daily Beast, Taylor Marsh and Freedom to Marry Blog
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Adam Serwer / Mother Jones:
Here Are the 7 Worst Things Antonin Scalia Has Said or Written About Homosexuality — This week the Supreme Court will hear arguments about equal rights for gay Americans. But we already know what Scalia thinks. — Justice Antonin Scalia has written that “it is our moral heritage …
Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Argument recap: On marriage, Kennedy in control — Analysis — Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, in an unusually candid process of elimination of options in public, on Tuesday worked his way through the ways for dealing with California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage and seemed strongly tempted to just take a pass.
Steve Benen / The Maddow Blog:
Alito's provocative question — I'm still working my way through the transcript (pdf) of today's Supreme Court oral argument on California's Prop 8, but there's one quote that already seems to be generating quite a bit of attention. It comes by way of Justice Samuel Alito:
Megan McArdle / The Daily Beast:
Why Gay Marriage Will Win, and Sexual Freedom Will Lose — In the future, gay marriage will not only be legal, but practically mandatory. — In some sense, it doesn't really matter how the Supreme Court rules on the gay marriage case it's hearing today. The culture war is over on this front, and gay marriage has won.
Discussion:
alicublog, Hit & Run, Via Meadia, Democracy in America and Post Politics
Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Jon Tester backs same-sex marriage — Montana Sen. Jon Tester on Tuesday endorsed same-sex marriage, joining the party's new public consensus on the issue. — Tester joins Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Mark Warner of Virginia in endorsing same-sex nuptials, and Jay Rockefeller …
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Hot Air, Advocate and Taylor Marsh
Sam Baker / The Hill:
Supreme Court justices signal dodge on gay marriage ruling — The Supreme Court indicated Tuesday that it's unlikely to issue a broad ruling on same-sex marriage. — Several justices seemed to be looking for ways to avoid a sweeping ruling — or perhaps even a ruling at all …
Josh Barro / Bloomberg:
What Is the Fiscal Impact of Gay Marriage? — As the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in today's Proposition 8 case, a lot of people have the same question for the gay fiscal-policy writer: How would same-sex marriage affect government budgets? There's been a surprisingly large amount …
Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:
The reducio ad absurdum of American constitutional jurisprudence
The reducio ad absurdum of American constitutional jurisprudence
Discussion:
American Spectator, National Review and Pundit & Pundette
Napp Nazworth / Christian News, The Christian Post:
Huckabee: Evangelicals Will Leave If GOP Backs Gay Marriage
Huckabee: Evangelicals Will Leave If GOP Backs Gay Marriage
Discussion:
The Week, The Reality-Based Community, Mediaite, Hot Air, The Daily Caller and Hawkings Here
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
How Opinion on Same-Sex Marriage Is Changing, and What It Means
How Opinion on Same-Sex Marriage Is Changing, and What It Means
Discussion:
Hot Air, CBS News, Runnin' Scared, SCOTUSblog, National Review, Public Religion Research …, The Maddow Blog and New Republic
Elahe Izadi / NationalJournal.com:
Could Overturning Gay-Marriage Bans Help the GOP?
Could Overturning Gay-Marriage Bans Help the GOP?
Discussion:
Washington Post, Power Line, Politico, Yahoo! News, American Prospect and Mediaite
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Supreme Court Sharply Divided On Whether States May Ban Gay Marriage
Supreme Court Sharply Divided On Whether States May Ban Gay Marriage
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Advocate, The Week and Taylor Marsh
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
The Justices Are Not Ready To Bring Marriage Equality To Alabama, And They Want Prop 8 To Go Away
David Cole / New York Times:
Deciding Not to Decide Gay Marriage
Deciding Not to Decide Gay Marriage
Discussion:
Guardian, Business Insider, No More Mister Nice Blog and Towleroad News #gay
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Bill Clinton's Decision, and Regret, on Defense of Marriage Act
Bill Clinton's Decision, and Regret, on Defense of Marriage Act
Discussion:
PinkNews.co.uk, NewsBusters blogs, ABCNEWS, Gawker, BuzzFeed, Yahoo! News, The Times of Israel, CNN, ABCNEWS, JustOneMinute and The Caucus
Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Supreme Court Justices Appear Cautious On Same-Sex Marriage Rights
Supreme Court Justices Appear Cautious On Same-Sex Marriage Rights
Discussion:
Firedoglake
Joan Walsh / Salon:
How not to seem like a racist — A tip for right-wingers angry about charges of racial bias: Try treating the Obama daughters with decency — Writing my piece on Andrew Breitbart and Tucker Carlson, I missed a huge example of overlap between their two sham-empires: the reporter who broke …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Crooks and Liars and Joe. My. God.
RELATED:
Scott Wilson / Washington Post:
Obama to name Julia Pierson as new Secret Service director — President Obama will appoint Julia Pierson, a veteran U.S. Secret Service agent and senior official, as the first female director of the agency, White House officials said Tuesday. — Pierson, 53, began her career in the Secret Service …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh and The Raw Story
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Peter Baker / New York Times:
Secret Service Gets First Female Director
Robin Marty / RH Reality Check:
Despite Abortion Bans, TRAP Law Is the Real Threat to Abortion Access in North Dakota (UPDATED) … “Personhood,” heartbeat bans, forcing women to give birth to babies diagnosed with genetic anomalies that make them unlikely to survive long after birth, if they make it that long …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, msnbc.com and Wonkblog
RELATED:
John Eligon / New York Times:
North Dakota Governor Signs Strict Abortion Limits
North Dakota Governor Signs Strict Abortion Limits
Discussion:
The Week
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
South Carolina special a toss up — PPP's first look at the special election in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District finds a toss up race. Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch leads Republican Mark Sanford 47-45 and ties Curtis Bostic at 43. — This is a Republican leaning district …
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Right Turn, The Week, Politico, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, Mediaite, The National Memo, Daily Kos, Roll Call and The Post and Courier
Connor Adams Sheets / International Business Times:
Actor Jake McClain Tweeting Every Word Of 906-Page ‘Obamacare’ Health Reform Law — Actor and director Jake McClain has taken on the monumental task of tweeting every single word of the 906-page “Obamacare” health reform law in hopes of drawing attention to the bill's content …
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
Fox News:
Egyptian mosque turned into house of torture for Christians after Muslim Brotherhood protest — Islamic hard-liners stormed a mosque in suburban Cairo, turning it into torture chamber for Christians who had been demonstrating against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in the latest case …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit
Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Steele: Priebus ‘crapping’ on my legacy — Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele continued to feud with his successor Reince Priebus on Tuesday, accusing the current chairman of “crapping” on his legacy. — “I kept my mouth shut for two years because, hey …
Discussion:
Politico
Peter Schroeder / The Hill:
Banking gavel could fall to Wall Street critic — Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), one of Wall Street's harshest critics, could end up leading the Senate Banking Committee if Democrats retain control of the Senate in 2014. — Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), who has led the Banking Committee since 2011 …
Discussion:
naked capitalism, Politico, CNN, Firedoglake, Wall Street Journal and Wonkblog
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David Brooks / New York Times:
The Killing Chain — Let's say you were writing a novel about a homicide. You'd want to describe the killer's neighborhood and family background. You'd want to describe his school, his culture and his gang. — You'd want to describe how he got into crime, his prior arrests …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, NewsBusters blogs and Mother Jones
Howard Fineman / The Huffington Post:
David Keene, NRA President, Has No Regrets About Newtown Massacre Response — WASHINGTON — “We had to change the subject,” said David Keene, as if making an obvious, unobjectionable point. — We were sitting at the back table of his favorite Italian restaurant.
Discussion:
Daily Kos and Weekly Standard
Associated Press:
Study: Health overhaul to raise claims cost 32 pct — WASHINGTON (AP) — Insurance companies will have to pay out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims on individual health policies under President Barack Obama's overhaul, the nation's leading group of financial risk analysts has estimated.
Discussion:
The Lonely Conservative and National Republican …
USA Today:
North Korea threatens Hawaii and U.S. mainland — NORTH KOREA THREAT — North Korea, which has missiles capable of hitting U.S. territories in the Pacific and possibly mainland USA, has ordered its rocket and long-range artillery units to be combat ready after joint military drills by U.S. and South Korean forces.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and Firedoglake