10th Circuit Slaps Down Kansas On Marriage Equality Appeal

I noted before how Republican Governors and Attorney Generals in a number of states have been more concerned about continuing to shamelessly prostitute themselves to Christofascists than facing objective reality in the legal/judicial realm.  A case in point is the state of Kansas where despite the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to not take appeals from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling striking down state same sex marriage bans, Kansas nonetheless requested an en banc hearing  before the 10th Circuit - as if the full 10th Circuit would reconsider a ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court de facto affirmed.  Today, the idiocy of GOP Governor Sam Brownback administration became obvious when the 10th Circuit rejected Kansas' request for an en banc hearing.  The New Civil Rights Movement has details:

Early last month a federal judge struck down a same-sex marriage ban in Kansas, and GOP Governor Sam Brownback (photo) and his administration have been fighting the ruling ever since.

After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review any same-sex marriage cases on October 6, that should have made clear to all states in the nation that their bans on same-sex marriage would soon be coming down – and they might as well just stop wasting taxpayer dollars defending them – but Gov. Brownback, a staunch religious theocrat has refused.

After the SCOTUS move, Brownback declared, "I swore an oath to support the Constitution of the State of Kansas. An overwhelming majority of Kansas voters amended the Constitution to include a definition of marriage as one man and one woman. Activist judges should not overrule the people of Kansas." 

Kansas is still fighting (with taxpayer dollars) and recently asked the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals for an en banc hearing on the case.

An en banc hearing is one where all the judges in the Court sit and hear the case.  The 10th Circuit just gloriously refused.

"No judge in regular active service on the Court requested that the Court be polled on the motion for initial hearing en banc," the Court's response today reads. "As a result, Appellants’ motion for an initial hearing en banc is denied."

Not only was the response a "no," it was in essence a "hell no!"  Not only would the court not hear the case en banc, not a single judge even thought the case warranted asking their colleagues if they should perhaps consider it.

Brownback and his minions make tawdry whores look virtuous.   Meanwhile, Kansas taxpayers ought to be demanding that Brownback reimburse taxpayers for the funds that he has needlessly wasted.