Seeking an explanation for the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, Pat Robertson speculated on the 700 Club that Justice Anthony Kennedy may have been influenced by law clerks on his staff who “happen to be gays.”

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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.

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.”

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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.”

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.”

“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.”

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.

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Harry Enten: “In poll after poll taken over the past few months, at least 60% of Americans have agreed that the federal government should recognize same-sex marriages in those states that allow it…. The lack of a wider ruling on marriage at large likely saves the court from issuing a divisive opinion… While most Americans believe same-sex marriage should be legal, polling is unclear on whether they want the federal government to force it upon the states. CBS News found that over 60% thought it should be left to the states, while an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll discovered the opposite. Even in that poll, however, most thought if a federal statute did exist it should define marriage as between one man and one woman.”

The Supreme Court will reconvene tomorrow at 10:00 AM
ET to issue the final three cases of the term, including the two
same-sex marriage cases.

Wonk Wire looks at the mix of possible rulings.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said “that she supports legalizing same-sex marriage, becoming the third GOP member of the Senate to endorse the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry,” NBC News reports.

Murkowski made the announcement in a moving op-ed: “I am a life-long Republican because I believe in promoting freedom and limiting the reach of government. When government does act, I believe it should encourage family values. I support the right of all Americans to marry the person they love and choose because I believe doing so promotes both values: it keeps politicians out of the most private and personal aspects of peoples’ lives – while also encouraging more families to form and more adults to make a lifetime commitment to one another.”

A new Pew Research study finds the news media coverage has provided a strong sense of momentum towards legalizing same-sex marriage. Stories with more statements supporting same-sex marriage outweighed those with more statements opposing it by a margin of roughly 5-to-1.

“With the Supreme Court only days away from major rulings on same-sex marriage, President Obama faces the prospect of having to make his own difficult decisions about the definition of wedlock,” the Washington Post reports.

“Gay rights advocates are already pressing Obama to immediately broaden the federal government’s recognition of legally married same-sex couples if the court strikes down a ban on providing federal benefits to them. The question for Obama turns on whether the federal government should extend full benefits to gay couples living in states that don’t recognize their marriages.”

“Obama would face rare, concrete decisions on the politically combustible question of same-sex marriage — an area he has largely left to the purview of courts and state legislatures.”

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds a majority “is holding fast in support for gay marriage, and even more Americans say legally married gays should receive full federal benefits.”

A new Bloomberg poll finds that 52% of Americans “support allowing same-sex couples to marry, endorsing the goal of gay-rights activists as the U.S. Supreme Court this month prepares to rule on the issue for the first time.”

“Of those supporters, more than half — 61% — want a national law rather than a state-by-state approach. During arguments in March, the justices signaled a reluctance to declare a right to same-sex marriage nationwide.”

The Boy Scouts of America “have decided to allow gay youth to openly join its ranks, reversing a longstanding ban,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“More than 61% of Scouts leaders voted in support of a proposal to open Scouting’s membership to gay youth, but not gay adults in staff or volunteer leadership roles.”

Politico: “In the 2013 off-year elections, a state that once leaned solidly to the center-right has become the newest focal point in the national debate over same-sex relationships. A gubernatorial race already defined partly along culture-war lines has grown even more contentious since last weekend, when Virginia Republicans nominated as their lieutenant governor candidate a firebrand minister who has called gays ‘very sick people psychologically’ and suggested a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia.”

“Remarkably, in a New South battleground where Democrats have
traditionally won by carving out independent, non-partisan reputations,
it’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe who’s most eager
to keep gay rights on the political front burner.”

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to tell Larry King whether he supported same-sex marriage but he suggested it could lead to polygamy.

Said Rumsfeld: “You know, I’m, I guess, of a generation that I don’t — I wonder — I listened to some of the Supreme Court justices and one of them said, ‘Well what’s next after that? Is it two people, three people?”

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A new Vanderbilt University poll in Tennessee finds that 49% of Tennesseans support gay marriage or civil unions while 46% are opposed to both, suggesting the state is now evenly divided on whether to extend legal recognition to same-sex couples.

The results suggest a marked shift in Tennesseans’ views since
2006, when 81% of voters approved an amendment to the state
constitution defining marriage between one man and one woman as “the
only legally recognized marital contract” in the state.