quote:
Or am I missing something?
You are missing something.
There's a long established Full Faith and Credit Clause line of cases that hold that states do not have to accept acts from other states that go against the public policy of the recognizing state. For example, different states have different ages of consent or different rules for consanguinity for marriage. If I marry my first cousin in a state that allows such marriage then move to a different state where such marriages are prohibited, the state I move to does not have to recognize that marriage. Obviously this same reasoning would apply to gay marriage.
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The current Supreme Court is stacked with conservatives who are more likely to support DOMA.
Not true. First, let me point out that 5 of the 6 who voted with the majority in Lawrence v. Texas are still there (Justice O'Connor replaced by Justice Alito). Although the Lawrence opinion specifically disassociated itself from any argument that it extended to the right to homosexual marriage, it's at least some evidence that those 5 Justices might be receptive to an argument.
Second, the Court is hardly "stacked with conservatives."
Nobody familiar with their voting records would call Breyer, Ginsberg, Souter or Stevens conservative. Kennedy is usually considered a "swing vote." He sometimes votes with the conservative bloc, sometimes with the liberal. As an example of his liberal positions, he wrote the majority opinion in Lawrence as well as in Romer v. Evans, both very important cases in gay rights jurisprudence.
People who don't pay particular attention to the Court beyond noting who was appointed by whom often assume that since Kennedy, Souter and Stevens were appointed by Repugnantcans (Reagan, Bush I and Ford, respectively), they must be conservative. As President Eisenhower found out with C.J. Earl Warren, it doesn't work that way.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. -- Barack Obama
We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat