PALMETTO STATE’S BAN ON SAME SEX MARRIAGES HEADS TO FOURTH CIRCUIT
By FITSNEWS || S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson has formally appealed this week’s ruling by U.S. District Court judge Richard Gergel – which struck down the Palmetto State’s gay marriage ban as unconstitutional.
Wilson filed his notice to the fourth circuit court of appeals – which has previously ruled that Virginia’s gay marriage ban was unconstitutional (a ruling the U.S. Supreme Court effectively upheld without comment).
South Carolina is currently the only state in the fourth circuit blocking gay marriages.
Wilson’s appeal comes as no surprise. In the aftermath of Gergel’s decision, he issued a statement indicating his intention to “defend state law as long as we have a viable path to do so.”
Wilson’s statement also referenced a recent sixth circuit court ruling which upheld the right of states to ban gay marriages – a decision he’s previously referred to as “well-reasoned.”
This decision – taken with the fourth circuit’s ruling that gay marriage bans ““impermissibly infringe on … citizens’ fundamental right to marry” – mean the matter is headed back to the Supreme Court.
And this time the Justices will have no choice but to rule one way or the other …
This website has been consistent in its view on this issue: No government – local, state or federal – should have the ability to ban (or compel) marriage, gay or straight. That’s because marriage isn’t a government institution, it’s a religious one – meaning the question should be left to individual congregations.
As for civil unions, we believe the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment compels government to acknowledge both homosexual and heterosexual unions … even plural unions.
NOTICE OF APPEAL (.pdf)
***
62 comments
Why are we allowing LIBERAL judges to rule Conservative South Carolina?
Got a good article up about in on SCPSD….
So much wrong in so few words….
LOL.. Allow?? Better question, why is South Carolina allowed to be a member of the union, when they insist on acting as a sovereign state?
The other 49 states feel bad for us.
They do? Damn you must have missed the elections on November 4th.
PSA,,, Obama is still President. President Obama.
Actually, we’re all laughing at you.
Because it would leave a blank space on the maps…
SC, Mississippi, and the like are already blank spaces on the map
“South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum.” – James L. Petigru
You like pissing money down rat holes?
You mean like the Gay Lobby is doing to defy our laws, and the will of the people. It is WELL worth paying extra taxes to defend the definitions of our culture. If you can assault marriage, what else will you destroy in your decadent hate campaign?
I don’t think Gays are involved in a hate campaign. Just equal access to the civil institution of marriage. I mean, it’s not like they’re asking for special schools? Why are you so afraid of gay people.
Yeah, they just want to enjoy some of the benefits the rest of us do so they go and pull some shit like that.
HOW DARE THEY?
Nobody’s defying the law if the law is unconstitutional, and therefore null and void. :)
shhh… what if he figures out there are 3 branches of government – all equal?
Remember that time when you said that pickle accidentally slipped up your butt three times. That was all in the past. Move on, bro.
Sounds like you need to soak that pussy of yours in some epson salt to relieve the sting…
oops
Alan, I’m so happy to see you have nothing better to be worrying about, like the Lexington Crime Ring, The Columbia/Richland Crime Ring, and various splinter groups of both. Did Papa Joe tell you to leave the LexCo Ring alone?
Don’t blame me. I voted for Parnell Diggs.
I voted for Parnell too. He’s a pretty cool guy actually, very active with the blind. It’s a shame he didn’t win, though.
I know! I checked with a blind friend about him when I found out about his candidacy and he said Mr Diggs had used his position as an attorney to get a lot of things done on behalf of blind citizens. I don’t see how he could have helped but be an improvement over the current situation.
My thoughts exactly.
Douchey Douchington is latching on to this for election value, not anything helpful to the citizens on SC given that DC ultimately gets to tell us all what to do.
If he wanted to do something useful, he find a way to push articles of secession without having SC invaded/raped/pillaged by DC & thrown back into the stone age again.
Like my Papa says – “You Lie”
Wilson is just committing the state to a legal battle it will lose — like the Citadel case and desegregation. The taxpayers will pay for Wilson’s posturing and preening on behalf of the religious right of the SC GOP. That’s what passes for leadership today.
This is just a battle. You will lose in the long run. Nov. 4 should be a warning to what’s coming.
Oooohhhhh – a warning from dip@h!t.
They’ve only begun to fuck things up! If you thought BUSH was bad, wait until you see the NEXT moron up to bat!
If he loses the case, he personally will render the appellate court ruling invalid, thus bypassing it for the Supreme Court to rule. And, if that doesn’t work, he’ll take it to the UN because you know state’s rights.
Fight on, Fools…..Spend on, Fools……did you not hear the Fat Lady singing?????
And SC continues in its tradition of being on the wrong side of history. Fight the courts to the bitter end against societal progress, taxpayers be damned!
That is the problem.’Societal progress’ to liberals mean ‘death panel’s’ for the elderly, infanticide, legalized drugs and perverted marriage with legalized pedophilia and beastiality not far behind with multiple spouses.
No. The problem is people like you who offer nothing except hate, and backward thinking are allowed to walk freely on the street and pollute society. People like you should be admitted to mental institutions.
Don’t worry, society inevitably moves beyond bigotry, even if it is a slow process. History does not look kindly on the bigots of old, either.
Bigots of old don’t mind – they’re busy fouling the soil where they’re buried.
legalized pedophilia and beastiality
I personally love it every time a right wing nut brings those up in the gay marriage debate, it shows how absolutely clueless and out of touch they really are. Only a backwards-thinking bigot would make such comparisons.
Congrats.
You should understand that when a person is stupid, you can’t make up for it by explaining why.
Really? How many skeletons do you have in your closet? How man multiple sex partners have you had? I’m sure you weren’t a virgin by the time you got married…if you even found someone that liked your negativism and hatefulness.
It reminds me of the lawyer who was arguing for his client
before the judge on two matters. In the first, the man’s wife was trying to get a divorce because he was impotent. In the second, his secretary wanted child support. The man lost both cases!
Damn – that’s good.
And Mr. Wilson is saying – “Raise your hand of your gay.”
Wilson is asking the crowd – “Who here likes to read FITSNEWS? Raise your hand.”
There is nothing conservative about throwing away hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars on a case that you have no chance of winning, and the State of South Carolina stands to gain nothing if you do win.
Has to appease the idiot base who re-elected Haley.
Why shouldn’t gays be entitled to become legally bound to someone who they will likely grow tired of over time and seek a divorce from? They should have to endure all the legal hoop jumping that the heteros have to, to become freed from that “hallowed” union.
“This website has been consistent in its view on this issue: No government – local, state or federal – should have the ability to ban (or compel) marriage, gay or straight. That’s because marriage isn’t a government institution, it’s a religious one – meaning the question should be left to individual congregations.
Agan, what fucking bullshit, Will. I’m not religious and I’m fuckng married! I agree a lot with you on some things, but Libertarian crap is quite laughable sometimes…
meaning the question should be left to individual congregations.
And what happens if an individual congregation doesn’t approve of your marriage? Does that mean you cannot get married? Does that individual congregation have power over you to deny your right to get married?
Of course not. Even with Willie’s description of marriage, the individual is free to simply become part of another “individual congregation” that does approve of it. Of course, this implies that no individual congregation actually has a right over marriage. The person picks the congregation they want to be a part of. Or, hell, just make one up on the spot.
This means all of the power resides in the individual. But that would make marriage an individual right, not a religious institution. We can’t have that.
The difference between marriage and civil unions are that marriages are what first-class citizens get to happily enjoy without question, and civil unions are what second-class citizens are begrudgingly allowed to have so the first-class citizens still get to feel special.
Do you really expect Damned Tango to understand logic?
Stand aside! He’s channeling the holy spirit!
Most of the stuff you believe is just as ignorant, if you are a Liberal-Tarian…and I cannot even tell what you are ticked off over.
Do you demand that a small gaggle of leftwing special interests – based on their bedroom habits – should be able to bully the redefining of marriage for the people who established the institution???…
Or, are you mad because you know gays REALLY want to force churches to perform their ceremonies, if their lifestyle is deemed to give them more civil rights than citizenship already abides them?
At any rate…any “congregation” that buys in to homosexual redefining of marriage is no longer that, but becomes a cult….
The Lutheran Church is a cult? That’s news to me.
Over your head again, Tango. The point I’m making is that marriage doesn’t need to be performed by any church. Read before you post, dumbass.
So why do you DEMAND the government sanction it?
Or maybe, if you can get your sexual habits declared a civil right by the government, you can FORCE churches to ordain your sex-based identity as a human? Isn’t that what all this Bull-$#it you’re pushing is about?
Spitting in the wind comes back at you twice as hard.
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
Immigrants and their U.S.-born children make up more than 40 percent of new Medicaid recipients at a cost of $4.6 billion, according to an analysis of government data.
The Center for Immigration Studies, a low-immigration advocacy group, released a report early Thursday that found both legal and illegal immigrants and their minor children made up 42 percent of Medicaid growth from 2011 to last year.
It’ll backfire like a Pinto on leaded gasoline. The more he’ll push, the more the state will get pushed back… or forward to some.
In the end, the 14th amendment sucks. Further, it was put in under questionable methods. Seriously, the greatest thing that could ever happen is if the Feds would just end the charade that is state sovereignty (as they’ve done with rulings like this under the guise of the 14th Amendment) thereby revealing the true judicial tyranny that we really live under. That way, the impending civil war would get here faster, thus allowing a reboot of this nation’s broken democracy. Now that’s a “right side of history” you can bank on….
You can’t fight. Shut up
Any honorable attorney knows not to cite a dissenting opinion as precedent!
So is Wilson going to defend every law that’s ever challenged or changed…? Or is he just going to do that for the laws he has a personal bias towards?… “Upholding the law”? That is the most cowardice excuse for discrimination. He should not have been reelected. Him or Haley. “Traditional” values aren’t exactly Haleys forte either considering she committed adultery with a married man but we are supposed to ignore that, right?