Dahlia Lithwick: The New Jersey gay marriage decision ain’t activism.
If you care at all about states’ rights and state autonomy, read this decision. If you believe in judicial minimalism, read this decision. If you think judges should engage in careful scrutiny of state law, read this decision before blasting it as activism. This was a state court taking care of state business.
From today’s Star-Ledger:
Lead article: Court expands gay rights.
Lead editorial: Still denied equality. “[T]his ruling still comes up short practically and morally.”
Op-Ed: Timid justices lacked courage to say, ‘I do.’ “The New Jersey Supreme Court choked. Choked on a word. Just one word.”
And here’s a great Q&A on what the decision means.
We went to see a preview of Mary Poppins on Broadway tonight. About 15 minutes into Act II, the show stopped. Three actors were performing a scene in front of the scrim, during which we heard what sounded like furniture moving around behind the curtain. The scene ended with the three actors walking offstage, and then… nothing happened. Silence.
We sat there a few seconds. Then a voice came over a loudspeaker announcing a delay. We sat tight.
About ten minutes later, one of the producers, Thomas Schumacher, walked onto the stage from the wings and told us that there was a problem with the foundation and they were trying to fix it. He apologized, quite charmingly, and said he hoped to return in five or ten minutes with the news that it was fixed. Then he disappeared again.
Fifteen minutes later, he reappeared and told us they couldn’t seem to fix the problem and that we would get refunds.
Sigh.
Of course, by the time we got home, we saw that an audience member had already posted about it on All That Chat while sitting in the audience.
Theater geeks…