they selected two. those two cases do give them a very broad front on which to act. but they can avoid the critical question of the equal protection of gay and lesbian couples because both cases involve so-called standing questions. these are questions of whether these parties have a right to present this case. probably the most serious standing questions are on the doma case and windsor case. the cases being defended by a group of republican members and it is not clear that they have actual standing to bring the case. so if the court says you don t have standing, then the lower court would prevail and windsor would prevail. how would the court s ruling affect marriage equality? it couldn t be more important. that case came for african-americans in 1954, i
measure that made same-sex marriage illegal in the state of california. residents voted 52-48 to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. the 9th court of appeals struck down proposition 8 on the basis it stripped individuals of rights previously granted when same-sex marriages were permitted in the state. opponents of same-sex marriage appealed the ruling to the supreme court which will now review the decision. the court will also take up the defensive marriage act case which challenges a section of the law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman for the purposes of receiving federal benefits. this mean the highest court now has the opportunity to rule on whether gay americans have the same constitutional right to marry as hetero sexual americans. the court s decision to hear these cases comes as a series of election victories for same-sex marriage.
they selected two. those two cases do give them a very broad front on which to act. but they can avoid the critical question of the equal protection of gay and lesbian couples because both cases involve so-called standing questions. these are questions of whether these parties have a right to present this case. probably the most serious standing questions are on the doma case and windsor case. the cases being defended by a group of republican members and it is not clear that they have actual standing to bring the case. so if the court says you don t have standing, then the e lower court would prevail and windsor would prevail. how would the court s ruling affect marriage equality? it couldn t be more important. that case came for african-americans in 1954, i believe. this could be that moment. we re all hoping that it is. this country is an imperfect union by mere fact that we have not recognized the right of people in love to be married.
we d have many more jobs. you d make the case we didn t spend enough on the economy? not only did we not spend enough, but we wasted 40% of it on tax cuts for small business, which is inherently savings and not stimulus. it was a real policy mistake. so considering where we are, and now 33 months of private sector job growth, is this historic? it s certainly we re going in the right direction, ed. we re not creating as many jobs as we need for the population growth, but it s astonishing we re recovering the way we are and if the republicans would stop creating the uncertainty, remember the uncertainty by not making a deal, we d see the numbers improving very dramatically. well, let me ask you in terms of the stability. i mean, these are numbers. right. does it look like historic? no, it doesn t. but when we were down here, we were on the verge of tipping over. our whole economic situation, our whole financial situation in that regard.
republicans had allowed a bigger stimulus. we d have many more jobs. you d make the case we didn t spend enough on the economy? we wasted 40% of that on tax cuts for small business, which is inherently savings and not stimulus. it was a real policy mistake. is this historic? we re going in the right direction. we re not creating as many jobs as we need for the population growth, but it s astonishing we re recovering the way we are and if the republicans would stop creating the uncertainty, remember the uncertainty by not making a deal, we d see the numbers improving very dramatically. let me ask in terms of the stability. these are numbers. does it look historic? it doesn t. but when we were down here, we were on the verge of tipping over. our whole economic situation,