Goldarn Activist Judges... Oh, They're Republicans?
Great news from the state of California yesterday (via the LATimes):

Gays and lesbians have a right to marry under the California Constitution, a state judge here ruled Monday, striking down state laws that limit marriage to "a man and a woman."

"No rational basis exists for limiting marriage in this state to opposite-sex partners," wrote San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer. "Same-sex marriage cannot be prohibited solely because California has always done so before."

Now, I'm sure this is going to start some grumbling on the right about activist judges on the Left Coast, not enacting the will of the people. Except, there this turn of the screw, as noted from Salon's War Room

When California Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer issued a tentative ruling in six consolidated legal cases yesterday, he instantly became a member of one of the nation's fastest growing fraternities: Republican-appointed judges who have issued rulings expanding rights for gay men and lesbians.

Kramer, who ruled yesterday that California's "denial of marriage to same-sex couples appears impermissibly arbitrary," was appointed to the bench in 1996 by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. In issuing his opinion, Kramer followed in the footsteps of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled 4-3 in favor of marriage rights in 2003. That decision was the handiwork of Republican appointees, too: It was written by Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, who was appointed to the court by Republican Gov. William Weld and elevated to chief justice by Republican Gov. Paul Celluci, and two of the three justices who joined in the opinion were Republican appointees.

And then, of course, there's Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the Supreme Court's 2003 decision overturning Texas' sodomy laws. Kennedy was appointed to the court by Ronald Reagan. Among the five justices who joined in his conclusion in the Texas casee were three Republican nominees: John Paul Stevens (Ford), Sandra Day O'Connor (Reagan) and David Souter (Bush I). Without the votes of those Republican appointees, gay men would still risk criminal prosecution for consensual sex in Texas.