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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, BuzzFeed, Washington Wire, Washington Monthly, Reuters, Mother Jones, Washington Post, Firedoglake, American Foundation …, Power Line, National Review, Alas, a Blog, The Week, Towleroad News #gay, Outside the Beltway, The Dish, Gawker, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The PJ Tatler, Angry Bear, Talking Points Memo, The Maddow Blog, Althouse, Freedom to Marry Blog, Little Green Footballs, ABCNEWS, Taylor Marsh, Post Politics and The Rumpus.net
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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.

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 …

. . . Gays Deserve Equal Rights — States shouldn't remain free to discriminate for as long as they wish. — Four years ago, the two us of joined forces and launched a federal constitutional challenge to Proposition 8, a ballot initiative which eliminated the right of same-sex couples in California to marry.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Democracy in America, SCOTUSblog, Hit & Run, Althouse, Law Blog, msnbc.com, AMERICAblog and Post Politics


Supreme Court Sharply Divided On Whether States May Ban Gay Marriage — During Supreme Court oral arguments Tuesday on California's Proposition 8, justices questioned whether the case had standing, but were narrowly divided on the larger issue of whether the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.
Discussion:
The Week, Advocate and Taylor Marsh


How Opinion on Same-Sex Marriage Is Changing, and What It Means — The Supreme Court will hear arguments this week on two cases related to same-sex marriage, the first involving a California referendum that barred gay marriage, the other involving a federal law that prevents the government from recognizing same-sex unions.
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, New Republic, The Maddow Blog, New York Times and PostPartisan


Jon Tester backs same-sex marriage
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, ThinkProgress, Advocate and Taylor Marsh

The Justices Are Not Ready To Bring Marriage Equality To Alabama, And They Want Prop 8 To Go Away
Discussion:
Mediaite

The reducio ad absurdum of American constitutional jurisprudence
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National Review

Deciding Not to Decide Gay Marriage
Discussion:
Guardian, Business Insider, No More Mister Nice Blog, Towleroad News #gay and CNN


Bill Clinton's Decision, and Regret, on Defense of Marriage Act — WASHINGTON — He had just flown across the country after an exhausting campaign day in Oregon and South Dakota, landing at the White House after dark. But President Bill Clinton still had more business before bed.
Discussion:
Featured stories, ABCNEWS, BuzzFeed, The Times of Israel, ABCNEWS, Yahoo! News, Gawker, NewsBusters blogs, CNN, JustOneMinute and The Caucus
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Huckabee: Evangelicals Will Leave If GOP Backs Gay Marriage
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NationalJournal.com, Hot Air, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Hawkings Here and Wall Street Journal

Can gay marriage survive SCOTUS loss?
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Yahoo! News, ABCNEWS, CNN, ABCNEWS, New York Times, Hot Air, Daily Kos, National Review, The Plum Line and The Huffington Post

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:
Politico, CNN, naked capitalism, Firedoglake, Wall Street Journal and Wonkblog
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With Tim Johnson retiring, Democrats face new challenge
Discussion:
Weekly Standard and Outside the Beltway


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, Crooks and Liars, Joe. My. God. and No More Mister Nice Blog
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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:
Right Turn, Washington Monthly, The Other McCain, Hot Air, Politico, Daily Kos, Mediaite, The National Memo and The Post and Courier

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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White Sox, Bulls Chairman Starts Security Firm With Former Secret Service Director
Discussion:
Politico and The PJ Tatler

CNN Demolishes Obama's ‘High-Speed Rail Boondoggle’ — On his CNN show last night, Anderson Cooper profiled the Obama administration's unfulfilled promises and wasteful spending on high-speed rail projects across the country. Cooper and investigative reporter Drew Griffin highlighted …
Discussion:
Hot Air

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


The Weeklies — From the outside, it is hard to know that people live in the Ramada Inn. The parking lot is always empty. The hotel sits facing a wide suburban boulevard called Kipling Street, just off Interstate 70 in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. The interchange where Kipling meets the freeway …
Discussion:
The Impolitic, Hullabaloo and Eschaton

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:
New York Times, ThinkProgress, Wonkblog, Daily Kos, The Week and msnbc.com


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


College Grads May Be Stuck in Low-Skill Jobs — The recession left millions of college-educated Americans working in coffee shops and retail stores. Now, new research suggests their job prospects may not improve much when the economy rebounds. — Underemployment—skilled workers doing jobs …
Discussion:
Via Meadia and Gawker

Cyprus bail-out: savers will be raided to save euro in future crises, says eurozone chief — Savings accounts in Spain, Italy and other European countries will be raided if needed to preserve Europe's single currency by propping up failing banks, a senior eurozone official has announced.