Supreme Court enthusiast Rep. Cecil Bell Jr. and his hat.
The clock finally did run out on
the Texas bill that would have subverted a potential Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. The lawmaker who authored it, GOP Rep. Cecil Bell Jr., is apparently a big SCOTUS buff and, based on his reading of the
United States v. Windsor decision gutting the Defense of Marriage Act, thinks he has a finger on the pulse of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Bobby Blanchard
reports:
“I think Justice Kennedy was very clear — it was his basis in fact for striking down DOMA — it was the fact that marriage wasn’t a federal purview,” Bell said. “Justice Kennedy said in Windsor that it is the sovereign power of the separate states and the people to define and regulate marriage.”
Oh, Cecil—you tricky Texas two-stepper! If you really believed that, then Kennedy would side with you and your effort to do an end-run around the Supreme Court was a total waste of taxpayer time and money.
Yet even though HB 4105 technically died by failing to pass the House by midnight last night, Bell's still looking for other legislative vehicles for his measure.
"From my perspective, no bill is dead as long as there are are other bills in front. You just have to find something that's germane," Bell said after passage of the House deadline spawned hope among opponents that the measure is done with for this session.
Sounds pretty desperate. Apparently, Bell doesn't believe a lick of what he claims about Justice Kennedy's intent. Unless he simply enjoys running fools' errands on the dime of Texas taxpayers.
11:40 AM PT: UPDATE: Texas House Republicans may have failed to pass this bill, but 93 of them still want you to know that they stand firmly behind "traditional marriage" as the "bedrock institution" of society and the "success" of Texas as a state.
