fate of prop 8, which bans same-sex marriage in california. that s right, wolf. and while we re waiting for the decision in the california ban on same-sex marriage, shorthanded at proposition 8, jeffrey toobin, jonathan turley and i are going over and reading not only the opinion that has struck down the defense of marriage act, but also a very blistering dissent by justice scalia, who calls what the court did today, quote, jaw-dropping. he uses the term judicial supremacy. jeff toobin, this is a this is a i don t think i ve read anything quite this pointed since the stephens dissent in bush v. gore. you know, this is the culture wars come to one first street, across the street over there. i mean, the antonin scalia believes that the government is perfectly entitled to legislate morality, and lots of people agree with him. here s a line the government, but not the court.
his position on gay marriage because of his gay son. how big a deal is this? and will other conservatives follow his lead? this is a huge deal. senator portman once supported a constitutional amendment rejecting same-sex marriage. he was in favor of the so-called defense of marriage act. and it appears that his evolution is just like that of millions of americans who deal with this issue. the fact that this is coming in the middle of the conservative political action conference here in washington and just a week and a half away from supreme court arguments on whether to overturn doma and the california ban on same-sex marriage, this should have some kind of impact, particularly on republicans and conservatives, whether it has any impact on the supreme court, that s a whole other question. okay. and the other story that we re talking about this morning is the verbal battle between ted
be deadly in some cases. we re dealing with triple-digit temperatures in many parts of the country. 105-degree heat indexes and higher. nine people have died because of the heat wave across the south and midwest. and there are warnings in more than a dozen states in effect right now. admiral thad allen giving bp the green light for oil operations. bp says the heavy mud pumped into the well on tuesday is holding back the oil. and overnight, supporters of same-sex marriage celebrated a federal judge s decision to overturn california s ban on same-sex marriage known as proposition 8 put to the voters. the groups on both side of the debate now vow at that legal fight is not over. lawyers for the group, protect marriage, which supported prop 8, are promised to file an appeal, quote, before the ink is dry on the judge s ruling.
country that are very upset with the judge s decision. mark my words if marriage will mean anything, marriage ultimately will mean nothing. reporter: in the ruling judge vaughn walker wrote that prop 8 does nothing more than enshrein in the constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples. 7 million californians believe we had a course, a right, to organize, to donate the right to marriage. one federal judge in san francisco has stripped us of that course of a right. reporter: the judge also issued a stay meaning same-sex couples will have to wait to be married until after the appeals process which both sides say they are looking forward to. and actually, that s the first issue at hand here, john and kiran. the judge is going to first hear about this state. both sides will have an opportunity to submit arguments and then the judge will rule on how long the temporary stay will be enacted.
what they would say, there is nothing in the united states constitution that makes any reference to gay marriage. indeed, makes no reference to marriage at all. where does this judge get off saying it s unconstitutional. the opponents say, hey, these are judges who are not elected trying to make laws. the majority of people in california voted against gay marriage, where does a federal judge come off saying that the voters will be overruled? so this is a very, very heated discussion and debate among individuals interested. this is one state of 50, there are no federal laws regarding gay marriage. when you look at this idea of putting together not allowing gays and lesbians, same-sex couples to marry, equates to discrimination based on gender, it s the same sort of thing. and there are federal laws governing that. so, if the supreme court upholds california, this rumor, does it spread across the country? oh, it most definitely will