Andrew Sullivan and Michael Demmons smell hypocrisy, noting that opponents of gay marriage aren’t raising nearly the fuss about Mitt Romney’s attempts to get his state supreme court’s ruling overturned as they did about San Francisco’s mayor marrying same-sex couples in blatant violation of the law.
Michael is particularly upset that Romney is doing this even though the state attorney general refuses to take it to court. In Massachussets, as in many (most?) states,the AG doesn’t work for the Governor but is in fact elected separately. In this case, they’re of different political parties. I don’t see any reason the governor can’t go to court on his own, since he’s clearly on the side of the majority of his constituents in trying to uphold a law that was struck down by the judiciary. Indeed, trying to fight something in court strikes me as perfectly within the boundary of the system, as opposed to openly flouting black letter legislation and daring one’s opponents to go to court to stop you.
Now, if Romney loses in court or can’t get the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case, then he’s obligated to enforce the ruling of his state supreme court. If he decides to do otherwise, I suspect the condemnations will be forthcoming.
