Jonathan Capehart of The Washington
Post believes the Supreme Court will punt on gay marriage.
Capehart, who is openly gay, noted in
an appearance on NPR's Talk of the Nation that he's a
“realist” on the issue.
“Well, a punt meaning that there's a
way for the Supreme Court to allow marriage equality in the states
where it's already legal – nine states plus the District of
Columbia – [and] leave aside the cosmic issue of whether there's a
constitutional right to marry for a later date,” Capehart
said.
“[T]he punt is hardly ideal, but what
it would do is that it would be the first step of what would be a
two-step solution that makes the second step of full marriage
equality even more inevitable. Because what ends up happening is,
you'll have gay couples legally married in California or New York who
would be able to then avail themselves of the more than 1,100 federal
rights and responsibilities because then the federal government would
recognize a same-sex spouse for the first time.”
“And so if ... let's say if I were to
get married to my partner, we could then file joint tax returns which
a gay couple in, say, Oklahoma would not be able to do. It would be
separate and unequal.”
When a caller noted that surveys show a
large majority of Americans endorse other forms of recognition,
Capehart, also a contributor to MSNBC, said the “country has moved
beyond that.”
“We are now at a situation where
domestic partnerships and civil unions, as much as they've given
protection and some stability to same-sex couples, that they are now
seen as outdated, and that marriage equality is the way to go,” he
said.