>I haven't had a chance to read the opinions yet but from what I gather the Supremes ruled DOMA unconstitutional based upon violation of the equal protection clause, and decided that prop 8 is not in their juristiction and that the plantiff's did not have standing, thus leaving the 9th circuit's striking down of the law in place. There are a number of dissents, including a sharply worded on by Scalia.
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>My initial take :
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>1) I agree with the equal protection violation. This seemed the most straightforward to me.
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>2) I'm not sure about the lack of juristiction and standing. It's an odd situation because California decided not to pursue the case which overturned an initiative passed by her citizens. The group of citizens who proposed the initiative pursued, yet they don't have standing? If I'm interpreting correctly, citizens are not allowed to pursue the legal case for initiatives they voted for if the attorney general decides not to? Seems like an awful weakening of the initiative process to me.
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>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324520904578553500028771488.html?mod=WSJ_Home_largeHeadline

Attempting to understand the legal terminology behind striking down Prop 8 is confusing. Each local Bay Area News Station has had legal experts on to interrupt what occurred. There is no agreement at this point. One story was that since Governor Terminator did not sign the bill the people of California could not argue for it. That boils down to no one was legally allowed to represent Prop 8.

Another law expert stated that if a law is passed and cannot be represented in court then there are many laws throughout the land that can be overturned.

One station said that people could be married immediately and that there was going to be a rush on local city halls. Another station said it would take the Attorney General of California to announce that the law was struck down and that would occur by 11 AM today. Another expert said it would take 25 to 30 days for the law to be eliminated.

Still another expert said that the supporters of Prop 8 could take legal action and overturn today’s ruling. Since that included the majority of California voters, do you think there is a chance for that to occur? As the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche stated, “Laws are made by the weak to protect them from the powerful”. When it comes to the Supreme Court, God only knows what goes on.

A leader of the Evangelical Church spoke out against the Supreme Court Ruling, and said that marriage was between a man and a woman..

The local Bishop of the Episcopal Church was delighted and embraced the decision that would allow his church to begin marring same sex couples.

The Pope will discuss this event this evening.