Rally in Support of Marriage Equality 3/26 6:30pm Federal Courthouse

[Jimmy]

Actions are happening all across the US in support of marriage equality on the occasion of the Supreme Court oral arguments Tuesday and Wednesday.

A good friend of mine has planned a candlelight vigil for Tuesday evening at the Federal Courthouse, 300 N. Hogan St. (across from Hemming Park)

Make a sign and join us or just come out to support.

There's a facebook event that lists more detail: https://www.facebook.com/events/424478737631446

General info about the effort: http://www.lighttojustice.org/find--create-a-local-action.html

[JaxByDefault]

Thanks for posting this Jimmy! I'll try to be there if my schedule allows.

Also, for anyone interested in listening to the oral arguments before the Supreme Court, the Court is going to expedite posting of the audio of oral arguments on its website for Hollingsworth v. Perry (the Prop 8 case) and United States v. Windsor (the DOMA case). The one-hour of arguments scheduled for Hollingsworth should be up by 1pm on Tuesday and the two-hours of arguments scheduled for Windsor should be available around 2pm on Wednesday.

Even for people that don't normally watch the Court too closely, listening to the oral arguments in these landmark cases should be interesting and may give hints as to the direction the Court is leaning.

The Court's website is www.supremecourt.gov

[Jimmy]

Thanks for that information!  I definitely plan to listen to the arguments and I'm glad to know their posting will be expedited!

Some other interesting news today: Chief Justice John Roberts has a lesbian cousin and he's invited her to be in the courtroom for the arguments.  http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2013/03/25/justice-roberts-has-gay-cousin-and-shes-coming-prop-8-trial

[Jimmy]

Live now - CSPAN is showing the huge rally on the steps of the Supreme Court.

http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN2/

[Jimmy]

I think Justice Alito wandered into some uncomfortable ground...

"Traditional marriage has been around for thousands of years. Same-sex marriage is very new. I think it was first adopted in The Netherlands in 2000. So there isn't a lot of data about its effect. And it may turn out to be a -- a good thing; it may turn out not to be a good thing, as the supporters of Proposition 8 apparently believe.

"But you want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution, which is newer than cell phones or the Internet? I mean we -- we are not -- we do not have the ability to see the future. On a question like that, of such fundamental importance, why should it not be left for the people, either acting through initiatives and referendums or through their elected public officials?"

And the Solicitor General got him -- "[T]he principal argument in 1967 with respect to Loving and that the Commonwealth of Virginia advanced was: Well, the social science is still uncertain about how biracial children will fare in this world, and so you ought to apply rational basis scrutiny and wait. And I think the Court recognized that there is a cost to waiting and that that has got to be part of the equal protection calculus."

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/26/17475093-alitos-provocative-question

[Jimmy]

Here's my own insta-punditry after hearing today's oral arguments...

I've now had an opportunity to listen to the Prop 8 oral arguments from this morning. No matter what you hear from any legal pundit (including this one), take any predictions of the outcome of Hollingsworth v. Perry with a shaker of salt. The Court was very interested in the procedural posture of the case. There is a legitimate question about whether the Prop 8 backers even had standing to bring the case to the Supreme Court. If a majority of the justices find that they did not, there are two possible results. Either the case will have stalled at the 9th Circuit or the trial court. In either case, Prop 8 will be invalidated and marriage equality will return to California. If there is proper standing, the case must be decided on the merits. I'm not sure that either side will be able to marshall 5 justices to form a majority on the merits. By the end of the case, when the Solicitor General of the United States was on deck, the justices began to wonder if the Supreme Court even should have taken this case at this point.

I'll link to some pundits and court-watchers below who will expand on the possible outcomes. But on balance, through whatever legal justification prevails, Prop 8 has a shaky future ahead of it. Marriage is likely to return to California. (Either by court or by referendum as even the lawyer for Prop 8 made clear. The public opinion has already shifted so far in favor of marriage that if the question were on the ballot again, we'd win.)

Come to the rally tonight. And buckle your seatbelts for tomorrow. DOMA is by far the bigger issue. Today's argument was scheduled for 1 hour; tomorrow the Court has reserved 2 hours for DOMA.

[JeffreyS]

[Jimmy]

JSO estimated the crowd in excess of 250.  The local media all had reports.  It was peaceful and impactful.  Not a single counter-protester.

This was the scene in downtown Jacksonville earlier tonight:

And one of several photosets on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152704645610230.1073741825.652815229&type=1