Cooper declares game over before the game is over
Published July 29, 2014
by Doug Clark, Greensboro News-Record, July 28, 2014.
N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper is premature in giving up defense of the state's marriage laws.
"It is time to stop making arguments we will lose and instead move forward, knowing that the ultimate resolution will likely come from the U.S. Supreme Court," Cooper said today.
If "ultimate resolution" likely will come from the U.S. Supreme Court -- and it will -- then declaring the game over today, following the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling striking down Virginia's marriage laws, is self-contradictory.
The game will be over when the Supreme Court says it's over.
The Fourth Circuit panel, in a 2-1 result, went well beyond any guidance from the Supreme Court.
That court's Windsor decision, striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, has "contributed heavily to recent lower court opinions against the state bans, even though that ruling did not deal directly with the validity of such laws. It was cited repeatedly in the new Fourth Circuit ruling," Lyle Denniston writes at SCOTUSblog.
Cooper said there are no more legal arguments to make on behalf of traditional marriage. He must not have read today's dissenting opinion by Judge Paul Niemeyer.
No one can say five justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will not agree with Niemeyer.
Cooper personally supports same-sex marriage. Fine. He's entitled.
But it's his job to uphold the laws and constitution of the state of North Carolina. Granted, he believes they are in conflict with the U.S. Constitution, and today's court ruling backs him up. But, again, that court doesn't have the last word.
So, for now, Cooper should hold his fire. It's premature, and he might end up being wrong.
July 29, 2014 at 10:06 am
Norm Kelly says:
It's true that at some point IN THE FUTURE Cooper may end up being wrong. A future possibility of being wrong is no excuse for being wrong now.
Failure to do you job should mean failure to keep your job. Who in our state has the authority to fire Cooper? Is it only voters? Can we do a recall vote? Unfortunately there are too many who agree with Cooper's PERSONAL stand on gay marriage. Too many of these people would vote to SUPPORT Cooper. Not because they agree that he's not required to do his job in order to keep his job. But support him because they agree with him on allowing gay marriage.
The voters have already expressed our opinion on allowing gay marriage in the state. It's not up to Cooper to override the voters. It's up to Cooper to defend the laws desired by the voters. No opportunity to fail to do your job and expect to keep your job.
Terminate Cooper now!
I want to hear calls for his ouster from media types all over the country. I don't expect this to happen, but it should. Media types are not known for being fair, balanced, honest, so I expect them to be mostly silent on this.
