In the Spring of this year, US Army Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dooley was condemned by the Joints Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and relieved of teaching duties at Joint Forces Staff College for teaching a course judged to be offensive to Islam.
The course he taught, Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism, was an elective course that Lt. Col. Dooley's superiors judged as presenting Islam in a negative way. His superiors were persuaded to come to this conclusion after receiving an October 2011 letter in which 57 Muslim organizations claimed to be offended by the course.
The fact that Lt. Col. Dooley is a highly decorated combat veteran with nearly 20 years of service under his belt apparently held little or no sway with the JCS. As a matter of fact, JCS Chairman General Martin Dempsey "personally attacked" Lt. Col. Dooley on C-Span on May 10, 2012, during a Pentagon News Conference.
Yet the craziest part of all this is that "the course content, the guest speakers, and the method of instruction" for the course was all approved by the the Joint Forces Staff College "years ago."
Former CIA agent Claire M. Lopez commented on the state of things: "All US military Combatant Commands, Services, the National Guard Bureau, and Joint Chiefs are under Dempsey's Muslim Brotherhood-dictated order to ensure that henceforth, no US military course will ever again teach truth about Islam that the jihadist enemy finds offensive (or just too informative)."
God bless Lt. Col. Dooley for possessing the courage of his convictions.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
A storm is looking to form in the West Pacific by Monday, EDT, that could affect Taiwan or coastal China by the end of the week.
A mass of clouds near Guam that is pushing westward has developed into Tropical Depression Seven. This system will continue to develop a broader area of clouds over the next few days. As it does develop more and more, this is likely to develop into the next tropical storm in the Western Pacific.
Should this develop into a tropical storm, the name will be Soulik.
This system is over some very favorable water with temperatures above 80 degrees. Winds across the area are weak, allowing for the storm to develop a stronger circulation. And finally, the storms are wrapping around the system and looking to allow the storm to strengthen.
Though the exact track is hard to determine until the storm develops more, we are looking at this storm to continue to push off to the west and eventually move close to mainland Asia.
This storm could eventually affect Taiwan and even mainland China by the end of the week and into the weekend.
Though this storm is not likely to develop into a major storm, any affects to China or Taiwan are likely to bring heavy rainfall, stronger wind gusts and even some higher surf at the coastline.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Next-generation sequencing could enable IVF clinics to determine the chances of children developing diseases
The first IVF baby to be screened using a procedure that can read every letter of the human genome has been born in the US.
Connor Levy was born on 18 May after a Philadelphia couple had cells from their IVF embryos sent to specialists in Oxford, who checked them for genetic abnormalities. The process helped doctors at the couple's fertility clinic in the US select embryos with the right number of chromosomes. These have a much higher chance of leading to a healthy baby.
The birth demonstrates how next-generation sequencing (NGS), which was developed to read whole genomes quickly and cheaply, is poised to transform the selection of embryos in IVF clinics. Though scientists only looked at chromosomes – the structures that hold genes – on this occasion, the falling cost of whole genome sequencing means doctors could soon read all the DNA of IVF embryos before choosing which to implant in the mother.
If doctors had a readout of an embryo's whole genome, they could judge the chances of the child developing certain diseases, such as cancer, heart disease or Alzheimer's.
Marybeth Scheidts, 36, and David Levy, 41, had tried another fertility treatment, called intrauterine insemination (IUI), three times without success before they signed up for IVF at Main Line Fertility clinic in Pennsylvania.
As part of an international study with Dagan Wells, a fertility specialist at Oxford University, the couple were offered NGS to check their IVF embryos for abnormal chromosomes. Abnormal chromosomes account for half of all miscarriages.
The chances of an embryo having the wrong number of chromosomes rises with the mother's age, and potentially with the father's. For women in their 20s, one in 10 embryos may have the wrong number of chromosomes, but for women in their 40s, more than 75% can be faulty.
Most of the time, embryos with abnormal chromosomes fail to implant in the womb. Those that do are usually miscarried. The portion that survive to full term are born with genetic disorders, such as Down's syndrome and Turner syndrome.
After standard treatment at the US clinic, the couple had 13 IVF embryos to choose from. The doctors cultured the embryos for five days, took a few cells from each and sent them to Wells in Oxford for genetic screening. Tests showed that while most of the embryos looked healthy, only three had the right number of chromosomes.
"It can't make embryos better than they were in the beginning, but it can guide us to the best ones," said Wells.
Based on the screening results, the US doctors transferred one of the healthy embryos into Scheidts and left the rest in cold storage. The single embryo implanted, and nine months later Connor was born. Details of the study will be given at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (Eshre) meeting in London on Monday.
"I think it saved us a lot of heartache," Scheidts told the Guardian. "My insurance covered me for three cycles of IVF. We might have gone through all three without the doctors picking the right embryos. I would not have a baby now."
A second baby who had the same genetic screening is due to be born next month, after a US couple had IVF at New York University fertility centre.
Doctors can already screen embryos for abnormal chromosomes using a technique called Array CGH, but the procedure adds more than £2,000 to the cost of IVF. Wells said NGS could bring the cost down by a third. To check the number of chromosomes is much simpler than reading all of the DNA accurately.
"It is hard to overstate how revolutionary this is," said Michael Glassner, who treated the couple at the Main Line Fertility clinic. "This increases pregnancy rates by 50% across the board and reduces miscarriages by a similar margin. It will be much less expensive. In five years, this will be state of the art and everyone who comes for IVF will have it."
In Britain, doctors are banned from selecting embryos for anything other than the most serious medical reasons. But as scientists learn more about genetic causes of disease, the urge to choose embryos to avoid cancer and other diseases later in life will intensify.
"You can start to have a very scary picture painted if you talk about height and hair colour and so on," said Glassner. "We have to make sure this is used judiciously."
The prospect of "designer babies" is remote for now, even if it were made legal. IVF produces only a dozen or so embryos at best, so the odds that one has all the traits a couple desires are very low. "IVF is still expensive and uncomfortable with no guarantee of a baby at the end. I can't imagine many people wanting to go through the strains of IVF for something trivial," said Wells.
The Oxford team now plans a large trial of the screening procedure to assess how much it boosts pregnancy rates, and which age groups it benefits the most.
Scheidts still has two screened embryos in cold storage, but has not yet decided whether to use them. "We haven't even thought about that. We'll see how the first year goes."
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Many of us have a sluggish metabolism. This can make it really difficult to lose weight and extremely easy to gain weight. A slow metabolism can also make you tire out easily so you don’t get to enjoy all that life has to offer. However, there is good news. You can easily boost your metabolism naturally if you know how. Below, you will find 7 ways to increase your metabolism:
1. Early Morning Intense Exercise – A short burst of intense exercise when you first get up can do wonders for your metabolism. Dr. Oz has advocated for this method of speeding up the metabolism. The best part is you only have to do about five minutes of intense exercise to reap the benefit all day. The exercise you do can be really simple. Examples would include running in place, jumping jacks, and lunges. Of course, if you have a stair master or a jogging machine, that would work too. Just get your heart rate up for five minutes and cool down for two minutes.
2. Eat More Spicy Foods – Hot spices like curry, cayenne pepper, black pepper, cumin, and turmeric all help the body speed up your metabolism. There are other “hot” spices that you may not think of as hot but they react in the body in this way. They include cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Try adding these tasty spices to your soups, stir-fries, casseroles, and other dishes. Curry goes great in some type of salads like quinoa salads. Some people love the taste of cinnamon in their coffee. Just add it to the grounds before you brew it.
3. Drink Lots of Water – Water is magical in this way. Drink a lot of water and your metabolism will magically increase because the metabolic process needs water to fuel it. It’s even better if you make sure you are drinking alkaline water.
4.Keep Your Thyroid Healthy – To work efficiently, the thyroid needs selenium, zinc, copper, and iodine. However, the American diet is notoriously low in these important minerals. To get more of these minerals, eat more seafood and nuts.
5. Never Skip Breakfast – Unfortunately, in this fast paced world we live in, many of us have a tendency to skip breakfast or grab something nutrient poor on the way out the door. This is one of the worst things you can do for your metabolism. Always eat a healthy breakfast. This should include a healthy protein like eggs from pasture raised chickens and fruit bursting with antioxidants like blueberries or strawberries.
6. Don’t Eat As Much Late In the Day – Unfortunately, most of us eat more at dinner than we do at breakfast. We also tend to snack at night before bedtime. This is exactly the opposite of what you want to do to speed up your metabolism. Try to eat more earlier in the day and less at dinner. Plus, try not to eat for at least three hours before bedtime.
7. Build More Muscle Mass – Weight training isn’t just for body builders. Building muscle mass should be part of all fitness programs. Even if you can’t join a gym or buy fancy equipment, you can build muscle mass. A couple of cans of food or water bottles filled with water can serve as weights for your arms and you can use those big rubber bands (cheap) or your own body weight to provide resistance to your legs to build more muscle mass.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
BRUSSELS (AFP) – The European Union on Sunday condemned the “horrific murder by terrorists” of dozens of people, mostly students, in an attack on a secondary school in Nigeria blamed on Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the horrific murder by terrorists of some 30 innocent children and a teacher early on Saturday morning in a school in Mamudo town in northeastern Nigeria,” said EU diplomatic chief Catherine Ashton in a statement.
Ashton promised Nigerians her “solidarity and determination to help them bring security, peace and reconciliation to the north”, and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
Survivors of the dawn attack said gunmen rounded up students and staff at the school in Nigeria’s restive northeast and placed them in a dormitory before throwing explosives inside and opening fire.
A hospital official in nearby Potiskum said 42 people were killed. A spokesman for Nigeria’s military, which often underplays casualty figures, said 20 students and one teacher were killed.
Boko Haram, which means “Western education is a sin”, has killed hundreds of students in attacks on schools in the region in recent months.
Nigeria launched a major offensive against Boko Haram on May 15, and has declared a state of emergency in three flashpoint states including Yobe, the scene of Saturday’s attack.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Edward Snowden is still living out a Tom Hanks movie in a Russian airport, but before Friday evening his pursuit of a new home was starting to resemble a nerd's quest to find a prom date: all rejection. But two countries have stepped forward and offered Snowden shelter, even if they have no idea how to rescue him from Russia.
The U.S. has pre-emptively sent an extradition request to Venezuela should the hacker find his way to the country after their president offered him a safe haven in the South American country. Hopefully they spelled his middle name right this time.
Leaders in Venezuela and Nicaragua stepped forward to offer the leaker of confidential National Security Agency documents asylum Friday evening. "I announce to the friendly governments of the world that we have decided to use international humanitarian rights to protect Snowden from the persecution that the world’s most powerful empire has unleashed against a young person who has told the truth," Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said in a speech in Caracas. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was a bit more reserved when he supported Snoden during a speech in Managua, saying only that they would house Snowden "if circumstances permit." Does this mean there won't be a whirlwind spy romance to keep Snowden in Russia? Hopefully not. He hasn't boarded a plane yet!
But, none the less, these statements came at a particularly nice time for Snowden considering he's spent weeks holed up in a Russian airport after fleeing Hong Kong and over 20 countries previously rejected his advances. It was about time someone said yes to the poor boy. Now they just have to take The Atlantic Wire's Phillip Bump's advice about how to navigate the tricky process of getting him out of the airport in Russia. Good luck!
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
(Reuters) – Pope Francis said on Saturday it pained him to see priests driving flashy cars, and told them to pick something more "humble".
As part of his drive to make the Catholic Church more austere and focus on the poor, Francis told young and trainee priests and nuns from around the world that having the latest smartphone or fashion accessory was not the route to happiness.
"It hurts me when I see a priest or a nun with the latest model car, you can't do this," he said.
"A car is necessary to do a lot of work, but please, choose a more humble one. If you like the fancy one, just think about how many children are dying of hunger in the world," he said.
Since succeeding Pope Benedict in March, the former cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina has eschewed some of the more ostentatious trappings of his office and has chosen to live in a Vatican guest house rather than the opulent papal apartments.
The ANSA news agency said the pope's car of choice for moving around the walled Vatican City was a compact Ford Focus. (Reporting By Catherine Hornby; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Jurors in the George Zimmerman trial are heading into their weekend with a lot of courtroom drama and conflicting testimony to digest.
Friday's action-packed session saw the prosecution rest its case, and the judge reject a defense request to acquit Zimmerman of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last year.
The mothers of both Martin and Zimmerman listened to the same 911 recording of someone screaming for help, and each said she was convinced the voice was that of her own son.
The question of whose voice is on the recording could be crucial to the jury in deciding who was the aggressor in the confrontation between the neighborhood watch volunteer and the teenager.
"I heard my son screaming," Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said firmly after she was played a recording in which distant, high-pitched wails could be heard in the background as a Zimmerman neighbor asked a dispatcher to send police. Moments later on the call, there was a gunshot and the crying stopped.
Gladys Zimmerman, though, testified she recognized the voice all too well: "My son." Asked how she could be certain, she said: "Because it's my son."
Martin's half brother, 22-year-old Jahvaris Fulton, testified that the cries came from the teen. And Zimmerman's uncle, Jose Meza, said he knew it was Zimmerman's voice from "the moment I heard it. … I thought, that is George."
After Friday's session was over, defense attorney Mark O'Mara told reporters "there will be a lot of other witnesses" who will testify that the voice on the call is George Zimmerman's.
"But we'll just present the case," he said. "We're just getting started."
Gladys Zimmerman was the defense's first witness. O'Mara said he expects to call "several" of the state's 38 witnesses back as well when trial resumes Monday, and he left open the possibility that he would try to introduce toxicology evidence showing Martin had marijuana in his system at the time he died. Judge Debra Nelson has denied the admission of that evidence for the time being.
O'Mara may also call witnesses who he says have stated that Zimmerman was not a racist. Part of the prosecution's theory is that Zimmerman profiled Martin as one of the young black men he'd called law enforcement about as being possible suspects in burglaries in his townhome community weeks prior to the shooting.
O'Mara said he could rest his case as soon as next week.
Immediately after the state rested Friday, he asked Nelson to acquit Zimmerman, arguing that the prosecution had failed to prove its case.
O'Mara said an "enormous" amount of evidence showed that Zimmerman acted in self-defense, and he argued that Zimmerman had reasonable grounds to believe he was in danger, and acted without the "ill will, hatred and spite" necessary to prove second-degree murder.
But prosecutor Richard Mantei countered: "There are two people involved here. One of them is dead, and one of them is a liar."
Mantei told the judge that Zimmerman had changed his story, that his account of how he shot Martin was "a physical impossibility," and that he exaggerated his wounds.
After listening to an hour and a half of arguments from both sides, Nelson refused to throw out the murder charge, saying the prosecution had presented sufficient evidence for the case to go on.
Earlier in the day, Sybrina Fulton introduced herself to the jury by describing herself as having two sons, one of whom "is in heaven." She sat expressionless on the witness stand while prosecutors played the 911 recording.
"Who do you recognize that to be?" prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda asked her.
"Trayvon Benjamin Martin," she replied.
During cross-examination, O'Mara suggested — haltingly, in apparent recognition of the sensitivity of the questioning — that Fulton may have been influenced by others who listened to the 911 call, including relatives and her former husband.
O'Mara asked Fulton hypothetically whether she would have to accept that it was Zimmerman yelling for help if the screams did not come from her son. He also asked Fulton whether she hoped Martin didn't do anything that led to his death.
"I would hope for this to never have happened and he would still be here," she said.
O'Mara asked Jahvaris Fulton why he told a reporter last year that he wasn't sure if the voice belonged to Martin. Jahvaris Fulton explained that he was "shocked" when he heard it.
"I didn't want to believe it was him," he said.
The doctor who performed an autopsy on Martin also took the stand. Associate Medical Examiner Shiping Bao started describing Martin as being in pain and suffering after he was shot, but defense attorneys objected and the judge directed Bao away from that line of questioning.
He later estimated that Martin lived one to 10 minutes after he was shot, and said the bullet went from the front to the back of the teen's chest, piercing his heart.
"There was no chance he could survive," Bao said.
With jurors out of the courtroom, Bao acknowledged under defense questioning he had changed his opinion in recent weeks on two matters related to the teen's death — how long Martin was alive after being shot and the effect of marijuana detected in Martin's body at the time of his death.
Bao said last November that he believed Martin was alive one to three minutes. He also said Friday that marijuana could have affected Martin physically or mentally; he said the opposite last year.
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Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis called for structural renewal in the Catholic church to keep up with the times, although advising future priests and nuns Saturday to shun costly trappings like the latest smart phones so they can use more resources to help the poor.
Francis has been waging a campaign to root out corruption and power plays in the Vatican's bureaucracy and to keep sight of what is essential in the church he was elected in March to lead.
The Argentine-born pontiff offered the encouragement for renewal in a homily during Mass Saturday at the Vatican City hotel where he lives. Francis told Catholics "not to be afraid of renewing some structures" to accord with "the places, the times" and the people, but he didn't specify what needed to be changed.
He said, "In Christian life, even in the life of the church, there are ancient structures, transient structures: It is necessary to renew them!"
Later, he gave an off-the-cuff lecture to a Vatiacn auditorium full of seminarians and novices, and to thunderous applause, told the future priests and nuns to keep "freshness" and "joy" in their lives, and took to task seminarians and novices who "are too serious, too sad. Something's not right here," Francis told his rapt audience. "There is no sadness in holiness," said Francis, saying that such clergy lack "the joy of the Lord."
"If you find a seminarian, priest, nun, with a long, sad face, if it se ems as if in their life, someone threw a wet blanket over them," you should conclude "it's a psiatric problem, they can go, 'buenos dias,''" Francis said, opting for a word in his native Spanish to indicate those clergy are not suited for their vocations.
He cautioned the future priests and nuns that he he wasn't talking about superficial joy — "the thrill of a moment doesn't really make us happy." Francis warned his audience against seeking "the joy of the world, the latest smart phone, the fastest car."
"It hurts my heart when I see a priest with the latest model car," Francis said, then joking that his audience will think "now we have to go by bicycle."
"Cars are necessary. But take a more humble one," said Francis, who from the day he took office declined to move out of the hotel during the conclave of cardinals and into the ornate Apostolic Palace that is the traditional home to pontiffs. "Think of how many children die of hunger" and dedicate the savings to them," Francis said.
While there have been calls within the church for the Vatican to ease the requirement for celibacy for priests, nuns and brothers, Francis praised chastity. "We are victims of a culture of the 'temporary,'" Francis said, adding that celibacy vows for those becoming priests or nuns should be a "definitive choice."
The Vatican allows married clergy in strictly limited cases: married men in the Eastern rite church can be ordained priests, and married Anglican clergy who later convert can stay married after joining the Catholic church.
At one point he turned to an aide and asked how much time he had with the young future priests and nuns. Told that he could stay there "until tomorrow" if he wanted, Francis joked to his audience that they would need "sandwiches and Coke if we go till tomorrow," drawing roars of laughter. In the end, he spoke for about an hour with the seminarians and novices, and will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday morning.
During his remarks, Francis praised Mother Teresa, the late nun who cared for the most impoverished sick of Calcutta, India, and held her up as a courageous example. "I would like a more missionary church," the pope told the young people, who seemed to hang on his every word. "Not so much a tranquil church, but a beautiful church that goes forward."
His lauding the nun will likely be seen as an indication that Francis will be eager to see Teresa made a saint. On Friday, the Vatican announced that Francis had decided to canonize later this year two predecessors, John Paul II, and John XXIII, even though the required miracle attributed to John XXIII's intercession and, according to church rules needed for sainthood, hadn't been certified. Bestowing sainthood on John Paul II, who died in 2005, will put him on a much faster path to canonization than Teresa, who died in 1997 and is widely considered a candidate for rapidly-conferred sainthood.
Francis' decision to OK sainthood for John XXIII without the second miracle pleased that late pope's family in northern Italy.
"We're happy. We were waiting for it for a long time," said Emanuele Roncalli, a great nephew of John XXIII, who was born Angelo Roncalli near Bergamo. "Even though you can still call him, not blessed, not saint , but just Pope John" in keeping with the late pontiff's stress on humility, said the great-nephew in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
In waiving the miracle requirement, Francis was essentially agreeing with the late pope's personal idea that "sainthood is lived during all of one's life," said Roncalli.
A journalist for the local daily L'Eco di Bergamo, Roncalli had written in Saturday's edition that his great-uncle, who died in 1963 when Roncalli was 2 years old, "wanted to be a holy man, in the fullness of the term." His great-uncle's concept of sainthood "could be defined as an available sainthood — if not actually reachable — by all," Roncalli wrote.
The late pope's notion of sainthood "isn't the sainthood of miracle workers, of healers," the great-nephew wrote
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
It's a predictable next step in a long-term, incremental legal strategy that is being used at both the state and federal levels, and in state legislatures and executive mansions as well as the courts, to build public and official acceptance of gay marriage. Much the same approach was used decades ago by civil rights lawyers fighting state-sanctioned discrimination; one decision becomes a steppingstone to the next.
In the fight over gay marriage, Kennedy's words also figured in an earlier example. He insisted in June 2003 that his opinion overturning state sodomy laws had nothing to do with governments' recognition of same-sex marriage. Five months later, language from his opinion showed up in the second paragraph of a state court ruling that made Massachusetts the first state to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.
In the June 26 decision in U.S. v. Windsor, Kennedy said the provision denying federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples relegates those marriages to second-class status, and "it humiliates tens of thousands of children now being raised by same-sex couples."
He framed his argument with reference to states' "historic and essential authority to define the marital relation."
But it doesn't take too much creativity to reframe his opinion to challenge state bans on same-sex marriage, said Jon Davidson, legal director of the gay rights group Lambda Legal.
"It's stigmatizing and it's harmful to people and particularly harmful to children when their parents' relationship is treated as inferior by the government. Those points are points we will be making in all of our marriage cases," Davidson said.
Davidson's group is relying on the invalidation of the Defense of Marriage Act provision in a state lawsuit to force New Jersey to allow same-sex couples to wed. In that case, the new argument is that the New Jersey Constitution does not allow the state to essentially keep same-sex couples from receiving federal benefits by prohibiting them from marrying.
Like the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, other state court rulings in favor of gay marriage have relied on provisions of their state constitutions. That has not happened by accident. The litigation plan had been to pursue marriage in liberal states, based on state constitutions, and generally avoid federal courts where judges appointed by conservative Republican presidents had, until recently, been in the majority.
Federal courts in California are so far the only ones that have said that a state same-sex marriage ban violates the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court did not decide that issue one way or the other in its gay marriage rulings, and instead relied on a technical legal argument to resolve the California case and clear the way for same-sex marriage in the state, which resumed at the end of June.
Same-sex marriage is legal, or soon will be, in 13 states and the District of Columbia, representing about 30 percent of the U.S. population. The states are: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
But now federal challenges are popping up as well, in Nevada, Hawaii and Michigan, among other states.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which struck down the California prohibition on same-sex marriage, will consider the Hawaii and Nevada bans together, but that case is in its early stages.
In Michigan, a federal judge prominently cited the Windsor decision in allowing a challenge to the state's marriage ban and its prohibition on same-sex couples jointly adopting children to go forward.
U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, quoted Kennedy in concluding that "plaintiffs are entitled to their day in court and they shall have it."
A separate case in Michigan also "might cast a large shadow over a state law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples," Georgetown University law professor Marty Lederman wrote on scotusblog.com.
In that dispute, public employees are challenging a Michigan law that cuts off domestic partner benefits for unmarried couples.
U.S. District Judge David Lawson, appointed by President Bill Clinton, partly relied on the recent Supreme Court case in saying, "It is hard to argue with a straight face that the primary purpose, indeed, perhaps the sole purpose, of the statute is other than to deny health benefits to the same-sex partners of public employees. But that can never be a legitimate governmental purpose." Lawson blocked the law for now, pending a trial.
When civil rights lawyers began their decadeslong quest to end official discrimination against black Americans, they pursued cases in state and federal courts that typically stopped short of the ultimate goal of overturning the Supreme Court decree in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 that "separate but equal" treatment of the races was permitted by the Constitution.
In a series of cases, the court chipped away at discrimination in higher education, including its 1950 decision in Sweatt v. Painter that said the University of Texas had to admit a black student to its law school because the one it created for black students did not offer an equivalent education. But even in June 1950, the court refused to re-examine the Plessy case.
Four more years elapsed before the court issued its seminal ruling in Brown v. Board of Education outlawing discrimination in public schools.
The prominent odd-couple lawyers who brought the California case to the Supreme Court, Republican Theodore Olson and Democrat David Boies, hoped the court would in one fell swoop get rid of 30 state constitutional bans on gay marriage and a few state statutes and declare that the right to marry cannot be abridged on the basis of sexual orientation and gender.
They failed to win that big victory, although their clients got married two days after the court decision.
For a time, Olson and Boies were at odds with many gay rights advocates who feared that asking the court to rule too broadly too soon could backfire. It turned out that the California case helped focus attention on gay marriage and perhaps sped up the shift in public opinion that now shows a majority in favor of same-sex marriage in most polls.
The different approaches have sometimes coexisted uneasily. That, too, is reminiscent of the civil rights movement, said Harvard Law School professor Mark Tushnet, who has written about the legal strategy of civil rights lawyers. "There were lawsuits that the NAACP didn't want because they were seen as sure losers, but local lawyers went ahead and brought them anyway. They weren't part of the plan," Tushnet said.
Ten years ago, 13 states still had laws against sodomy when the court said that states have no right to intrude on the private, personal conduct of people, regardless of sexual orientation.
Interracial marriage still was illegal in 16 states in 1967 before the high court outlawed race-based state marriage bans.
In 1954, when the court issued its landmark Brown decision, 17 states had formally segregated school systems.
No one is sure what the magic number needs to be for the court to set a nationwide rule. Tushnet predicts that when roughly 40 states allow same-sex marriage, "it is going to seem all right to tell Mississippi that it has to recognize gay marriage."
Justice Antonin Scalia, a dissenter in 2003 and again this year, saw the seeds of same-sex marriage in the court's 2003 decision and he saw them again in the Windsor case, despite Kennedy's insistence that the opinion was limited.
"How easy it is, indeed how inevitable, to reach the same conclusion with regard to state laws denying same-sex couples marital status," Scalia said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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