ANALYSIS: Ninth Circuit Appears Ready To Strike Down Bans In Nevada & Idaho

All three Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judges appear ready to rule for good guys. Via Chris Geidner at Buzzfeed:

As with other appellate courts to hear marriage cases this year, the court did note that the judges expect the matter to be headed to the Supreme Court. When Monte Stewart, the lawyer arguing in support of both Idaho and Nevada’s bans, questioned the court’s view of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion in last year’s case striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, Reinhardt retorted, “I think you’re going to have an opportunity to find out what Justice Kennedy thinks.” Although not as fireworks-filled as the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals arguments over Indiana and Wisconsin’s ban, the arguments Monday at the 9th Circuit were, in a way, even more lopsided. This was so because of the judges on the panel, all of whom have written or joined significant gay rights opinions previously, and because of a decision from the 9th Circuit earlier this year in which the court held that sexual orientation discrimination claims would face additional scrutiny by the court.

Our enemies used the same tired tactics that have failed everywhere else. Via Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade:

Monte Stewart, a conservative attorney formerly with the Marriage Law Foundation, argued on behalf of same-sex marriage bans in Idaho and Nevada by saying those laws instill a message that a child has “bonding right” with his mother and father. “The man-woman relationship at the core of the marriage institution generates and sustains the child’s bonding right, which is a social expectation, a strong social message and social promise and norm that to the greatest extent possible a child will know, and be reared by, her mother and father,” Stewart said. Allowing same-sex couples to marry “undermines and weakens” that bonding right, Stewart said, and places children in situations where they won’t be able to flourish as much as if they were raised by different-sex parents. Stewart twice made an example out of New York, which legalized same-sex marriage through the legislative process in 2011, saying that had the effect of “withdrawing all public and official support” for a child’s bonding right and had “undermined significantly” marriage.