This week the Supreme Court will hear what is thought to be the definitive case on marriage equality. A case so important that the SCOTUS justices have allotted almost double the time to hear arguments as they usually allow. Those arguments are set to take place Tuesday, April 28th.
Waiting in the wings on this decision is Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. His lawyers will be arguing the main case and it will affect another big case in Michigan concerning a terminally ill man’s fight to simply be covered on his spouse’s policy. In a 5 page brief in that related lawsuit against the State of Michigan, Snyder’s attorneys make their case of why Bruce Morgan, an East Grand Rapids, a Michigan resident who’s suffering from brain cancer, should deserve to die without a hint of compassion from Snyder’s administration.
Yes, because Morgan’s marriage is a perceived threat to Governor Snyder’s religion, Mr. Morgan should just “drop dead.” By not recognizing Mr. Morgan’s marriage, Snyder can deny him any and all coverage that he is eligible for on his spouse’s policy.
No healthcare soup for you, NEXT!
A federal court had struck down Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage in March 2014, but the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision, upholding the state’s prohibition on gay nuptials. Now, this and other cases are awaiting the decision of the SCOTUS so that their cases can finally be resolved. The main case will cause the domino effect one way or another, is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, and will be heard this week. A ruling will probably be months down the road unless it is deemed enough of an emergency to warrant a quicker ruling.
If the court rules as many experts expect it to, Snyder’s defense will simply crumble in this case as well. As will many other cases sitting and waiting for this huge ruling. So, it’s amazing that he is costing his state money by continuing to fight this the way the Dixiecrats fought any and all desegregation, even after the battle was clearly lost. The only thing it does for him is make him a “tea party hero.”
But it’s not like Snyder has been at all consistent here. He has already “recognized” over 300 same sex marriages in his state. That came via a court ruling that forced the Governor and his administration to acknowledge the marriages that took place during the initial window when the marriages were legally recognized. But like a racist standing in front of an Alabama school in the 60s, Snyder is fighting this one case. A case where he could show compassion and politically adapt to the changing tide as politicians often do.
But Snyder would rather use his religion as a blunt club and prefer this terminally ill man just drop dead. Which is truly sad and unfortunate. Incidntally, the other case being heard is also a Michigan case so Snyder could walk away a conservative hero for “stopping the gay agenda” or come out with 2 black eyes.
And that could have serious repercussions on his political future. Especially as people are beginning to talk about a potential Presidential run in 2016 for Snyder. They point to Snyder’s transformation and reform of Detroit. Soon after he was elected in 2010, Governor Snyder took what were perceived to be drastic steps in an attempt to stop the city from a financial and societal free fall. Indeed he got a lot of criticism from progressives and even some republicans when he essentially fired all the elected officials in the city and replaced them with appointed managers who were tasked with finding a way out of Detroit’s continuing woes.
Years later, Snyder is now handing back control to the city and Detroit is on the upswing. Although it is not definitive or even verifiable if the managers really did much different than the elected officials would have and Detroit’s economic trends have essentially followed that of the nation, though lagging behind the nation as a whole still.
There is also the problem that the “boom” in employment there might not be as beneficial in any long term scenarios. While the nation as a whole hires about 12% in temporary employees, In Snyder country the rate is about 36%. Almost 4 in 10 of those employed today are working a job that could dry up at any time. And while the Auto industry and other manufacturing in the area have enjoyed some modest gains, again as the nation’s economy has improved and thanks to billions in bailout dollars from the Obama and Bush administrations, no one expects much hiring to go on there and no new facilities are needed in the foreseeable future.
One company that is experiencing a surge is Ann Arbor’s Domino’s. The pizza chain famous for cheap specials and varying quality is seeing their business increase as the area improves. So people in the field of baking and delivering pizzas should at least have some job security … for now.
If he enters the race, Governor Snyder will try to bridge that gap between the increasingly radical base of the GOP and it’s more level headed moderate population. And if Snyder makes it through the primaries as the victor, he could cause problems for Hillary Clinton or whomever the democrats nominate. That is, unless they can show Snyder as the right winger he is. A man who was so against democracy in 2010, he defied the people’s vote and put in his own cronies so he wouldn’t have to put much of an effort into ramming whatever he wanted into Detroit. A Governor who’s success is a house of cards built on temporary entry level jobs and cheap pizza. And the rest of it was built on the rest of the country funneling billions into GM and Chrysler after Snyder’s executive buddies bled the town dry and blamed the unions that in fact built that city.
The one place where Snyder would have a big leg up in the general election is the fact that he took the Federal Medicaid expansion dollars, unlike other GOP Governors like Scott Walker in neighboring Wisconsin. But ironically that move might prevent him from coming close to the nomination in the 1st place if conservatives continue to try to drive the party further to the fringe of the GOPs extreme right wing.
But conservatives should rejoice when they hear the story of when the “Christian” Governor told the terminally ill man to drop dead because his religion prevented him from showing any mercy or compassion. You know, just like Jesus.
Check out this video on Morgan’s case against Snyder HERE:
H/T: Progressmichigan | Featured image via Photobucket
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