Courting Cowardice: New York Times' Maureen Dowd acidly rips Supreme Court timidity on gay marriage

Maureen Dowd. (Fred Conrad photo)

...The fuddy-duddies seemed to be looking for excuses not to make a sweeping ruling. Their questions reflected a unanimous craven impulse: How do we get out of this? This court is plenty bold imposing bad decisions on the country, like anointing W. president or allowing unlimited money to flow covertly into campaigns. But given a chance to make a bold decision putting them on the right, and popular, side of history, they squirm.

      ...Charles Cooper, the lawyer for the proponents of Prop 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, was tied in knots... His argument, that marriage should be reserved for those who procreate, is ludicrous. Sonia Sotomayor was married and didn’t have kids. Clarence and Ginny Thomas did not have kids. Chief Justice Roberts’s two kids are adopted. Should their marriages have been banned? What about George and Martha Washington? They only procreated a country.

      ...While Justice Alito can’t see into the future, most Americans can. If this court doesn’t reject bigotry, history will reject this court.