Focus shift from Supremes to Obama

Congress enacts the laws. But if something isn't clear, such as the definition of "spouse," the Executive Branch writes regulations to create a working definition of the law. Which means, according to Ari Ezra Waldman, the president is sometimes a key player in how a law is interpreted.

That's especially true when the Supremes strike down a portion of the law, like they did with DOMA. All these agency staff people now have to update the regulations to implement the ruling. So our focus has shifted from the Supremes to Obama. How fast will he and his staff work through all those regulations to make sure they refer to any lawfully married couple and to make sure it discusses the state of celebration and not the state of domicile (to handle the case of being married in New York and living in Texas).

Alas, a couple laws specify they apply to the state of domicile, so the underlying regulations can't change. These laws are the ones that created the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Act. It is this last part that should get prompt Congressional attention. Lots of gay widows and widowers will need it. Alas, there is that GOP house…

Waldman asks an important question. If Romney was president how quickly would those regulations be rewritten? Well, gosh, it is all so complicated. It's going to take a while.

A commenter notes,

and had McCain won in '08, we'd not have seen pro-Equality judges on the bench, folks.

#votingisimportant

as much as conservatives want to ask "how's that Hope-y Change-y stuff working for ya?" with a smug little idiot's grin, the answer firmly remains "pretty darn good, actually"