The Republican Attorney General of South Carolina has just appealed a federal judge’s ruling that struck down a same-sex marriage ban. His chances of winning are literally zero.
Meet Alan Wilson, the just re-elected Republican Attorney General for the State of South Carolina. Wilson is 41, and married with two children whom he repeatedly relies upon for very cute family photos to help promote his status as a family man on his political – not personal – Facebook page.
In fact, the day after election night, Wilson posted to Facebook the above photo of himself and his family, and wrote, “I’m honored to have your support for a second term and I’m looking forward to continuing to make South Carolina a great place to live, work and raise a family.”
Just not same-sex families.
Not unsurprisingly, Wilson has a colorful background. He is the adopted son of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, also of South Carolina. The Congressman is best-known for breaking protocol during President Barack Obama’s 2009 address to a joint session of Congress. Rep. Wilson infamously shouted at the President, “You lie!,” twice, causing a hush to fold over the chamber. It is believed no one had ever done anything so unimaginable in the entire history of this nation.
It is from that disregard for society and disrespect for the law that Attorney General Wilson today announced he will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that strikes down the Palmetto State’s unconstitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
That federal judge is hardly the first to declare a same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. U.S. Courts have ruled in favor of same-sex marriage supporters more than 50 times since last year’s Supreme Court DOMA ruling. But AG Wilson insists he still has a chance to get the ruling reversed.
Wilson will appeal to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has already ruled in support of same-sex marriage in the famous Bostic case, which brought marriage equality to Virginia. And the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review to Bostic case, leaving Wilson no recourse whatsoever.
So, AG Wilson will now spend countless thousands of dollars – likely tens of thousands of dollars – of taxpayer money to defend a law that has been ruled unconstitutional by dozens of federal judges.
“Today’s ruling comes as no surprise and does not change the constitutional obligation of this Office to defend South Carolina law, including, but not necessarily limited to, appeal to the Fourth Circuit. Therefore, we will immediately appeal to the Fourth Circuit,” AG Wilson announced this morning in a statement released immediately after the ruling was handed down.
“Also, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld traditional marriage,” Wilson added, despite the fact that South Carolina sits in the 4th Circuit. “Therefore, we have opposing rulings between federal circuits, which means it is much more likely that the U.S. Supreme Court could resolve the matter at the national level. We believe this office has an obligation to defend state law as long as we have a viable path to do so.”
Court watchers do not believe he has “a viable path to do so.”Â
“Finally,” Wilson continued, “our state’s laws on marriage are not identical to those in other states. Therefore, based on the time-honored tradition of federalism, this Office believes South Carolina’s unique laws should have their day in court at the highest appropriate level.”
Despite the cost to taxpayers – not to mention the cost to families headed by same-sex parents.
The Charleston City Paper today reports that a Wilson spokesperson “has said that the South Carolina attorney general’s office does not have a way of tracking the taxpayer money spent defending the marriage ban. He said today that the office has not hired any outside attorneys to help with the defense.”
Â
Image via Facebook
Â
Â