Because I'm a bit stupid. You've probably noticed by now that Wisconsin's equal marriage ban was struck down, so I think we're about 20-0 as far as court cases in the States are concerned. But my question is this and it's not specifically about Wisconsin, it's about the stays that Attorney Generals are requesting. In short why are they bothering? I know these guys can't be completely blind to the fact that since DOMA was gutted the bans don't have any constitutional standing any more and any appeals have all failed too, so what's the actual point of appealing the rulings and/or requesting the stays? I imagine these appeals are expensive, so are the political brownie points (if any) considered worth the expense and possible backlash for that expense? Is there some legal thing that would demonstrate that equal marriage bans are constitutional they're driving at that I'm just not seeing? The arguments against equal marriage have been blown apart time and again too, so are AGs just hoping that they get lucky and get a judge that wasn't paying attention to what was going on? tl;dr Someone explain the point of stays to me.
Well, technically, DOMA's Section 3 was declared unconstitutional but we also have Section 2 still on the books, so that is still an issue because states are still not required to honor the Full Faith and Credit Clause. We also have to deal with the constitutional matters of Equal Protection and Due Process. The US v. Windsor decision sort of addressed many issues of federalism and equal protection without really addressing them. If anything, the Supreme Court dragged its feet, while still giving ammunition to the next round of litigation. The governors and AGs who can't see the writing on the wall are doing it because of several reasons: they really hate "fags," they want their voters to see how "tough" they are on gays, they feel it's their duty to uphold the state constitution, or any combination thereof.
Contrary to popular belief, only one part of DOMA was struck down and that was the part pertaining to federal recognition. DOMA still allows states to decide the legal status of gay marriage themselves. These appeals are the GOP's last stand against equality. Considering how the rest of the U.S is going, those appeals won't work in their favor.
Part of it too, is that the Attorney General is the Lawyer for the state. It is therefore his job to defend the state, and their laws. It is the same thing if you commit a crime, and hire an attorney to defend you, it is his job to defend you, even if he knows you are guilty, and thinks you should be punished. I am sure that there are far fewer politicians, attorneys general included that hate LGBT people, it is just a requirement of their job to defend the law, and in the case of the governors to do what they think their voters want. Either way at the rate we are going, I expect to see 50 state legal same sex marriage within the next 2-5 years.
