Leigslatures....No, Courts....

Can't help but laugh at this text from today's NYT concerning the California legislature's voting to allow gay marriage:

A spokeswoman for Mr. Schwarzenegger, Margita Thompson, said after the vote that the governor believed that the issue of same-sex marriage should be settled by the courts, not legislators, but she did not indicate whether that meant he would veto the legislation. The bill did not pass with enough votes to override a veto.

"The governor will uphold whatever the court decides," Ms. Thompson said.

For who knows how long, Republicans (and no small number of Democrats) have suggested that Democrats should be embarrassed for pursuing their goals in courts rather than legislatures. Gay marriage was Exhibit A in recent arguments on this topic.

So what happens?

• Democrats in the California legislature overcome the ugly bigotry of California Republicans who say things like

"Marriage should be between a man and a woman, end of story. Next issue," insisted Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy (R-Monrovia). "It's not about civil rights or personal rights, it's about acceptance. They want to be accepted as normal. They are not normal." [From today's WaPo.]


• Rebuplican Governor Schwarzenegger says he wants the courts to decide the issue. And that he will "uphold whatever the court decides." What on earth does that mean? The governor has a piece of legislation on his desk. The court doesn't have anything to decide! And governors who don't plan to "uphold whatever the court decides" should be impeached anyway.

Which is it, Republicans?