Scalia Says 'California Does Not Count' In Dissenting Same-Sex Marriage Opinion
WASHINGTON (CBS SF) -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had some choice words to include in his dissent on the legalization of same-sex marriage.
He called the landmark ruling, which overturns bans on same-sex marriage in states across the country, a "judicial Putsch" and the Supreme Court a "threat to American democracy."
It served as a launch pad to critique the lack of diversity among the Court, before evolving into an attack on California's very existence as a "genuine" Western state.
"Four of the nine are natives of New York City. Eight of them grew up in east- and west-coast States. Only one hails from the vast expanse in-between," he wrote. "Not a single South-westerner or even to tell the truth, a genuine Westerner (California does not count)."
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Although Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, just as he did in the court's previous three major gay rights cases dating back to 1996, Scalia is notorious for churning out some of the most quotable remarks.
Scalia scoffed at the majority's idea that the nature of marriage is "two persons together can find other freedoms, such as expression, intimacy, and spirituality," saying that even "the nearest hippie" would know that marriage is anything but freedom of intimacy. In his own words:
Really? Who ever thought that intimacy and spirituality [whatever that means] were freedoms? And if intimacy is, one would think Freedom of Intimacy is abridged rather than expanded by marriage. Ask the nearest hippie.
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Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas also dissented.
The ruling will not take effect immediately because the court gives the losing side roughly three weeks to ask for reconsideration. But some state officials and county clerks might decide there is little risk in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.