Just after yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) “issued an order… requiring all 58 county clerks to issue marriage licenses when the ruling takes effect, which he said might take more than a month, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
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Quote of the Day
“This is Massachusetts. We only have three pastimes: sports, politics and revenge.”
— Democratic operative Jim Spencer, quoted by Roll Call.
Democrats Just Want You to Listen to Republicans
Raw Story notes Democrats “have a new strategy to use against their Republicans opponents: Just let them speak.”
“Following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, the ‘DemRapidResponse’ channel simply uploaded a more than 20 minute long Republican press conference. The video wasn’t even edited, with the exception of a five second introduction that flashed, ‘Grand Old Party, Same Old Party on marriage equality’ across the screen.”
Christie Still Opposed to Same Sex Marriage
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) “said he would again veto a same-sex marriage bill if it reaches his desk, and that Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a ban on federal benefits for same-sex married couples will have no effect on New Jersey, one of a handful of states that allows civil unions,” NBC Philadelphia reports.
Said Christie: “It’s just another example of judicial supremacy rather than having a government run by the people we actually vote for. I thought it was a bad decision, but it has no effect on New Jersey at all so we move from here.”
WikiLeaks Volunteer Was FBI Informant
Wired identified an 18-year-old Icelandic man as a FBI informant inside WikiLeaks.
Siggi Thordarson was a “long time volunteer for WikiLeaks with direct access to Assange and a key position as an organizer in the group. With his cold war-style embassy walk-in, he became something else: the first known FBI informant inside WikiLeaks. For the next three months, Thordarson served two masters, working for the secret-spilling website and simultaneously spilling its secrets to the U.S. government in exchange, he says, for a total of about $5,000.”
Same-Sex Marriage Availability Set to Double
Nate Silver: “With the coming resumption of same-sex marriage in California, … the United States will surpass Europe in the availability of same-sex marriage as measured by share of the population. By August, about 95 million Americans out of a population of 314 million – about 30 percent – will live in states where same-sex marriage is legal. In Europe, that number is 169 million residents out of a population of 736 million, or about 23 percent.”
However, Dan Balz notes same-sex marriage “is not legal in more than three dozen states. Many of those states have written the bans into their constitutions. It could take years to change those provisions if the battles are engaged one by one, state by state. Only the Supreme Court could short-circuit that process.”
GOP Leaders Look to States to Block Gay Marriage
“House Republicans haven’t yet coalesced around a strategy to counter the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, with one member of the party’s conservative wing talking up a doomed effort to amend the Constitution while leadership seems resigned to leave the issue to the states,” Roll Call reports.
Gawker: “There are, in total, 29 U.S. Senators and Representatives who changed their positions regarding same-sex marriage since it was first voted on in 1996. Of those 29 politicians who no longer support DOMA, 24 signed an anti-DOMA amicus brief earlier this year. Still in office are 43 members of Congress who supported DOMA and continue to do so, as well as 31 politicians who always opposed the measure.”
Man Charged in Romney Tax Return Scheme
A Tennessee man was charged in a scheme involving Mitt Romney’s income tax returns during the 2012 campaign, the AP reports.
Michael Mancil Brown “is accused of having an anonymous letter delivered to the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP accounting firm in Franklin last August, demanding that $1 million in digital currency be deposited to a Bitcoin account to keep some of Romney’s income tax returns from being released. The Justice Department said Brown falsely claimed that he had gained access to the PricewaterhouseCoopers internal computer network and stolen tax documents for Romney and his wife, Ann Romney, for tax years before 2010.”
Texas Gets New Congressional Map
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has signed the Lone Star State’s new congressional map into law, “ending the state’s long and twisted redistricting saga of the 2012 cycle,” Roll Call reports.
“The governor’s approval comes one day after the Supreme Court gutted a provision in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that forced Texas to seek federal approval for any changes to its voting laws — including its congressional maps. The state was one of several covered by Section 5 because, according to the original law, it had a history of discrimination in its voting practices.”
Perry Calls Special Session to Take Up Abortion Bill
In the wake of the Texas Senate’s failure to enact abortion legislation before last night’s midnight deadline, Gov. Rick Perry (R) called the Legislature back for a second special session to begin Monday afternoon, the Austin American Statesman reports.
This Town
Coming soon: This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral-Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking!-in America’s Gilded Capital by
Mark Leibovich.
“The great thing about Washington is no matter how many elections you lose, how many times you’re indicted, how many scandals you’ve been tainted by, well, the great thing is you can always eat lunch in that town again. What keeps the permanent government spinning on its carousel is the freedom of shamelessness, and that mother’s milk of politics, cash.”
U.S. Begins Arming Syrian Rebels
Wall Street Journal: “The Central Intelligence Agency has begun moving weapons to Jordan from a network of secret warehouses and plans to start arming small groups of vetted Syrian rebels within a month, vastly expanding the Obama administration’s role in support of moderate forces battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.”
Toss Up in New York City
A new Quinnipiac poll in New York City finds Christine Quinn (D) barely leading the Democratic mayoral race with 19%, followed by Anthony Weiner at 17% and William Thompson at 16%.
Said pollster Maurice Carroll: “Thompson’s spurt — no doubt spurred in part by his endorsement last week by the United Federation of Teachers — is the big news in this new poll. The other news is Quinn’s slide and that’s more puzzling. A few polls ago, she was edging close to the magic 40 percent.”
Can Ryan Sell Immigration Reform to Conservatives?
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) “is emerging as his party’s leading champion of immigration reform in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Reuters reports.
“With Senate passage of a sweeping immigration bill imminent, Ryan has been meeting with House conservatives to persuade them that reform of the immigration system, including a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, is an economic necessity and critical to fixing the nation’s fiscal problems.”
Flashback of the Day
“Those people should be shot in the balls.”
— NSA leaker Edward Snowden, quoted by Ars Technica in 2009, in response to individuals who leaked government information later published in the New York Times.
On David Gregory
Frank Rich: “Is David Gregory a journalist? As a thought experiment, name one piece of news he has broken, one beat he’s covered with distinction, and any memorable interviews he’s conducted that were not with John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Dick Durbin, or Chuck Schumer… The new, incoming leadership of NBC News has a golden opportunity to revamp Sunday morning chat by making a change at Meet the Press. I propose that Gregory be full-time on Today, where he can speak truth to power by grilling Paula Deen.”
‘You’re Invited to the Wedding’
The plaintiffs in the Proposition 8 case before the Supreme Court received a phone call from President Obama while being interviewed by Thomas Roberts on MSNBC.
Texas Filibuster Resonated Across Social Media
Dan Amira: “It doesn’t even rhyme, but #StandWithWendy, the Twitter hashtag used to show support for the eleven-hour filibuster carried out by Texas state senator Wendy Davis last night, was even more popular than #StandWithRand, the Twitter hashtag that became a rallying cry for Rand Paul supporters when the Kentucky senator embarked on a thirteen-hour filibuster over drone policy in early March.”
