Top Items:
Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Argument recap: DOMA is in trouble (FINAL UPDATE) — Analysis — If the Supreme Court can find its way through a dense procedural thicket, and confront the constitutionality of the federal law that defined marriage as limited to a man and a woman, that law may be gone, after a seventeen-year existence.
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New York Times:
Justices Hears Arguments on Defense of Marriage Act — WASHINGTON — A majority of the justices on Wednesday questioned the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, as the Supreme Court took up the volatile issue of same-sex marriage for a second day.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Little Green Footballs, New Republic, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Angry Bear, Althouse, Yahoo! News, The Maddow Blog, The Other McCain, Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire, Joe. My. God., The Dish, ProPublica, Capital New York, msnbc.com, RH Reality Check, BuzzFeed and The Times of Israel
Washington Wire:
Live Blog: Supreme Court Weighs Gay Marriage, Day 2 — The Supreme Court Wednesday is hearing arguments on the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, completing a two-day exploration of gay marriage after arguments Tuesday that showed the justices divided over how far the rights of gays and lesbians should extend.
Discussion:
National Review, Bloomberg, ThinkProgress, Reuters, Politico, Hot Air, Business Insider, Taylor Marsh and Towleroad News #gay
Rob Christensen / Raleigh News & Observer:
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage — Sen. Kay Hagan said Wednesday that she supported the right of gay people to marry, saying “we should not tell people who they can love or who they can marry.” — Hagan, one of the few Democratic senators who had not previously come …
Discussion:
The Impolitic, ThinkProgress, The Hill, Politico, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and The Hinterland Gazette
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Defense Of Marriage Act Takes A Beating At Supreme Court — A majority of the Supreme Court justices delivered a beating to the Defense of Marriage Act during oral arguments Wednesday, signaling a positive outcome for marriage equality. — The four liberal-leaning justices …
Discussion:
The National Memo, American Spectator, The Hinterland Gazette and The Maddow Blog
Politico:
Elena Kagan's DOMA ‘gotcha’ moment — Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan caught the attorney defending the Defense of Marriage Act in a rare “gotcha” moment — in the eyes of many in the audience — at the high court on Wednesday. — In discussing the origins of the law, Paul Clement …
Sarah Kliff / Wonkblog:
Planned Parenthood's president thinks abortion is headed back to the Supreme Court — Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards speaks at the 2012 Democratic Convention. … Sarah Kliff: Tell me a bit about what the restrictions we're seeing out of North Dakota mean.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Associated Press, Taking Note and ThinkProgress
Ricochet Conversations Feed:
Troy Senik, Ed. : The Gay Marriage Fight that Should Unify the Right — As we endure the oral arguments over California's Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act in the Supreme Court this week, things are likely to get a little chippy here on Ricochet.
Discussion:
Questions and Observations
David Martosko / Daily Mail:
PUNCHES fly as gay marriage advocates and opponents clash outside Supreme Court while landmark case is heard inside — Midway through a National Organization protest in front of the US Supreme Court building, punches flew. One, which landed on the face of a marcher, was thrown …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Joe. My. God. and Jammie Wearing Fools
Tom Goldstein / SCOTUSblog:
The relationship between DOMA and Proposition 8
The relationship between DOMA and Proposition 8
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, BuzzFeed, Angry Bear, AMERICAblog and ProfessorBainbridge.com
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Courting Cowardice — As the arguments unfurled in Tuesday's case …
Courting Cowardice — As the arguments unfurled in Tuesday's case …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Brilliant at Breakfast, the daily howler, Balloon Juice and FiveThirtyEight
Ashley Killough / CNN:
One after the other, Dem senators endorse same-sex marriage
One after the other, Dem senators endorse same-sex marriage
Discussion:
Politico
Reuters:
Supreme Court conservatives target Obama on marriage law
Supreme Court conservatives target Obama on marriage law
Discussion:
Guardian, Mediaite, Business Insider and Politico
Nelson Lund / Wall Street Journal:
A Social Experiment Without Science Behind It
A Social Experiment Without Science Behind It
Discussion:
National Review, www.frcblog.com, Betsy's Page, Pundit & Pundette, Instapundit and Power Line
Sam Baker / The Hill:
Supreme Court seems open to killing Defense of Marriage Act
Supreme Court seems open to killing Defense of Marriage Act
Discussion:
Politico
Sabrina Siddiqui / The Huffington Post:
Gay Marriage Rights: The 10 Democratic Senators Who Still Say No
Gay Marriage Rights: The 10 Democratic Senators Who Still Say No
Discussion:
Roll Call, Washington Wire, Taylor Marsh, Swampland, Associated Press, Mother Jones, Salon, Firedoglake and emptywheel
Greg Botelho / CNN:
Meet the woman at center of DOMA
Meet the woman at center of DOMA
Discussion:
emptywheel, Business Insider and Campaign for America's Future
Reuters:
‘Rude’ lawmaker Louie Gohmert pulls rank on cops over parking ticket — A Texas Republican congressman got into a late-night verbal altercation with U.S. Park Police officers earlier this month, pulling rank in an attempt to get out of a parking ticket near the Lincoln Memorial.
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog, Trail Blazers Blog, The Raw Story, Juanita Jean's, Zandar Versus The Stupid and Daily Kos
Rebecca Leber / ThinkProgress:
Arizona Group Will Give Away Loaded Shotguns To ‘Take Back’ City From Criminals — Featured on Armed Citizen Project's website — A Tucson, Arizona affiliate of the Armed Citizen Project will spend $12,000 on a new charitable initiative: handing out free shotguns in neighborhoods with high crime rates.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos
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Darren DaRonco / Arizona Daily Star:
Ex-Tucson mayoral hopeful McClusky plans free shotguns for high-crime areas
Ex-Tucson mayoral hopeful McClusky plans free shotguns for high-crime areas
Discussion:
The Raw Story and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
CBS News:
Poll: 80% of Americans unhappy with Washington — The Sequester — Americans continue to believe the sequester cuts will be bad for the country (41 percent) in the long run, and just 28 percent expect their effect to be good for the country. However, the view that sequester will have no impact …
Discussion:
The National Memo, The Hill, Politico, First Read and National Review
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Renee Dudley / Bloomberg:
Customers Flee Wal-Mart Empty Shelves for Target, Costco — Margaret Hancock has long considered the local Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) superstore her one- stop shopping destination. No longer. — During recent visits, the retired accountant from Newark, Delaware, says she failed to find …
Discussion:
TIME
Washington Post:
CIA director faces a quandary over clandestine service appointment — As John Brennan moved into the CIA director's office this month, another high-level transition was taking place down the hall. — A week earlier, a woman had been placed in charge of the CIA's clandestine service for the first time in the agency's history.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, Booman Tribune, Business Insider and Boing Boing
Dave Lee / BBC:
‘Biggest ever attack’ slows internet — The row centres on the blocking of a web-hosting company alleged to be hosting spam websites — The internet around the world has been slowed down in what security experts are describing as the biggest cyber-attack in history.
Discussion:
The Times of Israel, VentureBeat, GigaOM and Mashable
RELATED:
Paul Krugman:
Poland Is Not Yet Lost — But its leaders remain determined to give disaster a chance. — Poland is one of Europe's relative success stories. It avoided the severe slump that afflicted much of the European periphery, then had a fairly strong recovery: — As you can see …
Discussion:
Wonkblog, TheMoneyIllusion and National Review
RELATED:
Louise Radnofsky / Washington Wire:
Sebelius: Some Could See Insurance Premiums Rise — Some people purchasing new insurance policies for themselves this fall could see premiums rise because of requirements in the health-care law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters Tuesday.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Via Meadia, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, Jammie Wearing Fools and National Review
RELATED:
Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
Local Airport Closures Cause GOPers Sequestration Anxiety — We've noted previously that outside Washington D.C. — where politicians and reporters obsess endlessly over inconsequential but high-valence things like White House tours and Easter egg hunts — sequestration is beginning to cause real harm, and political pain.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, St. Augustine Record, The Maddow Blog, The Plum Line and DownWithTyranny!
Josh Margolin / New York Post:
Oops, TSA guy goes spray-zy! — A bumbling TSA agent “playing around” with a pepper-spray container at Kennedy Airport fired the caustic liquid at five fellow screeners yesterday, sending all six to the hospital, a source told The Post. — The agent, Chris Yves Dabel …
Discussion:
Gothamist and The Daily Caller
Politico:
Our Story — We created POLITICO with a simple promise: to prove there's a robust and profitable future for tough, fair and fun coverage of politics and government. To do this, we cling to a simple principle: always hire the most talented editors, reporters and newsroom staff and then set …
Discussion:
FishbowlDC
Justin Sink / The Hill:
White House defends Secret Service pick — White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Wednesday defended the selection of Julia Pierson to head the Secret Service after a report in the Washington Post suggested her pick provoked resentment from rank-and-file agents who felt she had spent relatively little time in the field.
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN and Politico