Person of the Year: Antonin Scalia

Scalia finds his predictions on same-sex-marriage ruling being borne out

By Robert Barnes,

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So give Justice Antonin Scalia credit — or condolences. ... When the court last June struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act and said the federal government must recognize same-sex marriages performed in those states where it was legal, Scalia sounded loud warning.

While the five-member majority of the court said it was not deciding whether a constitutional right to marriage must be extended to same-sex couples, Scalia said the reasoning of the decision made that outcome practically preordained.

“It takes real cheek for today’s majority to assure us, as it is going out the door, that a constitutional requirement to give formal recognition to same-sex marriage is not at issue here,” Scalia wrote.
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In Utah, ... [a]ttorneys Peggy A. Tomsic and James E. Magleby, representing a gay male couple and two lesbian couples, ... bold-faced the Scalia dissent for emphasis: ... (“{T}he view that this Court will take of state prohibition of same-sex marriage is indicated beyond mistaking in today’s opinion. . . . {T}he real rationale of today’s opinion . . . is that DOMA is motivated by ‘bare .?.?. desire to harm’ couples in same-sex marriages. . . . How easy is it, indeed how inevitable, to reach the same conclusion with regard to state laws denying same-sex couples marital status.”)