Because 'what you believe'has no relevance to case law, precedent or any ruling.
And of course, because there was far more relevant, immediate precedent that actually had specific findings to guide decisions. Romer, Lawrence and Windsor collectively representing over a hundred pages of binding precedent. Baker was a single sentence formalizing a denial of writ of cert in accordance with federal law at the time. The USSC does this a hundred times a session now with no particular legal relevance.
Actual rulings provide orders of magnitude more guidance for lower court rulings than a formal denial of cert. And with each of the rulings being more relevant as they are more recent. And thus establish a legal foundation that didn't exist at the time of Baker.
And because Windsor utterly telegraphed the court's interpretation of the right to same sex marriage. Even those in dissent recognized the clarity of Windsor in communicating the court's views and intentions. With Scalia calling the court's view on same sex marriage bans 'beyond mistaking'. And concluding that the application of the logic of Windsor to overturn state same sex marriage bans 'inevitable'.
The lower court found Windsor equally compelling with almost universal consensus. Something like 46 of 49 rulings aligned with this interpretation of Windsor. An interpretation which was affirmed as the correct one by the high court in Obergefell.
You ignore the impact of Romer and Lawerence and discount the clarity of Windsor. The lower courts didn't. Even those in dissent of Windsor didn't. And as the Obergefell ruling demonstrates, you were wrong to do so.
I'm sure you haven't read Scalia's dissent in Windsor and have no idea what you're talking about.
"Baker was a single sentence"
Man, could you learn from Baker
all the tortured rationalization since has not changed what that simple single sentence implied.....no substantial federal question.
And by 'tortured rationalizations', you mean simply NOT ignoring Lawerence v. Texas, Romer v. Evans and Windsor v US as you have done?
Remember, you haven't actually presented any rational reason why to ignore any of these rulings. They are all relevant. They are all binding precedent. They are all much more recent than the one sentence denial of cert that the USSC offered in 1972.
Just because you ignore these rulings doesn't mean that the lower courts are obligated to do so as well.
read the 6ths opinion on Baker and you will see you are wrong.
The opinion of the 6th was overturned by the Supreme Court. Read their ruling to see why you were wrong.
And of course,
every other Circuit Court district to rule on the matter contradicted the 6th. Demonstrating that the overwhelming majority of lower court rulings contradict you and that the Supreme Court contradicts you. And as Scalia's dissent (which you still haven't read) as well as almost all lower court rulings within the Circuit Court Districts demonstrate, the court clearly communicated its stance on state same sex marriage marriage bans in Windsor. With Obergefell confirming the same after these rulings.
Its not that they are all wrong. Its that you are.
As I have said before, I believe Lawrence is more to do with issue of privacy, so irrelevant to the argument.
I get that you believe that. But your belief neither defines the ruling nor any lower court ruling that uses it. None of the lower courts based their rulings on you belief nor were aware of it at the time of their rulings. Making your belief pristintely irrelevant to any discussion of any ruling.
Second, Lawrence was about more than merely privacy. It was about constitutional protections for personal decisions. Which the court explicitly indicated included marriage:
"The
Casey decision again confirmed
[574]
that our laws and tradition afford constitutional protection to personal decisions relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, child rearing, and education.
Id., at 851. In explaining the respect the Constitution demands for the autonomy of the person in making these choices, we stated as follows:
"These matters, involving the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life. Beliefs about these matters could not define the attributes of personhood were they formed under compulsion of the State." Ibid.
Persons in a homosexual relationship may seek autonomy for these purposes, just as heterosexual persons do. The decision in
Bowers would deny them this right."
Lawrence v. Texas
Lawrence laid the constitutional framework for the protection of homosexuals in choices central to personal dignity and autonomy. Including marriage. Which is far more than merely 'privacy'. You simply ignore the portions of Lawrence that don't conform to your opinion.
Neither we nor any lower court is similarly obligated to ignore what you do.
Romer is indecipherable,,,just a garbled collection of words. It opens with a quote that should be more applicable to the dissents.....it is garbage.
Nope. Romer is quite clear:
We must conclude that Amendment 2 classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else. This Colorado cannot do. A State cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws. Amendment 2 violates the Equal Protection Clause, and the judgment of the Supreme Court of Colorado is affirmed.
Romer v. Evans
That you can neither decipher nor comprehend such statements doesn't change the fact that pretty much every lower court could. As can almost every native speaker of English.
You summarily ignoring Romer because you didn't like the opening quote or didn't understand the ruling doesn't change a thing about its status as binding precedent. Or its relevance in any court ruling involving the rights of gays and lesbians that came after it.
Windsor actually in a way agrees with Baker. no substantial federal question.
Windsor doesn't agree with Baker. As it indicates that state marriage laws are subject to constitutional guarantees. It also established, in elaborate detail, the very real harms that same sex couples and their children were subject to by denial of marriage rights. And how the denial of marriage rights infringes upon the dignity of same sex couples. Windsor never finds that there is 'no substantial federal question'. But in fact finds that DOMA violates the federal constitution.
And of course the court communicates its position on same sex marriage so clearly in the Windsor decision that virtually every lower court to rule on same sex marriage after Windsor ruled against same sex marriage bans. Even Scalia found the court's communication of its opinion on the topic 'beyond mistaking':
In my opinion, however, the view that this Court will take of state prohibition of same-sex marriage is indicated beyond mistaking by today’s opinion. As I have said, the real rationale of today’s opinion, whatever disappearing trail of its legalistic argle-bargle one chooses to follow, is that DOMA is motivated by “ ‘bare . . . desire to harm’” couples in same-sex marriages. Supra, at 18. How easy it is, indeed how inevitable, to reach the same conclusion with regard to state laws denying same-sex couples marital status.
Justice Scalia in dissent of Windsor v. US.
'Beyond Mistaking' and 'Inevitable' aren't subtle interpretations of the clarity of Windsor's take on state same sex marriage bans. You insist that any judge who similarly came to this conclusion after reading Windsor was 'lazy'. I (and Scalia) argue that Windsor communicated its message on state same sex marriage bans clearly. A position that almost all lower court rulings came to. An argument that the Obergefell decision obviously affirms.
Yet bizarrely, and in defiance of all reason......you insist that every lower court should have discounted Romer, Lawrence and Windsor, and instead based their rulings solely on a once sentence denial of a cert from 1972?
Um, no. That's simple nonsense. As the Obergefell ruling demonstrates elegantly.