Three Cheers for United States District Court Judge John E. Jones III

A 2002 appointee of President George W. Bush, Judge Jone E. Jones, III of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania showed his integrity and independence by ruling against a local school board in the intelligent design case, Kitzmiller v. Dover Independent School District.
Now Judge Jones has ruled today that Pennsylvania's ban on Gay Marriage is unconstitutional. Whitewood v. Wolf. Judge Jones overturned a law signed into by his mentor, former Governor Thomas Ridge, in 1996. Governor Ridge had appointed Judge Jones to be Chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, a job he held until 2002. Judge Jones also ruled against the previously expressed wishes of George W. Bu2sh and Karl Rove, who used anti-Gay marriage amendments (eventually passed in 30 states), to euchre re-election in 2004.
In his decision earlier today, Judge Jones wrote, "We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history."
Judge Jones did not issue a stay.
Gay and Lesbian couples are now getting married in Pennsylvania.
Judge Jones based his decision on both equality and liberty, pointedly citing Loving v. Virginia, the 1965 Supreme Court miscegenation case.
Judge Jones wrote, By virtue of this ruling, same-sex couples who seek to marry in Pennsylvania may do so, and already married same-sex couples will be recognized as such in the Commonwealth" of Pennsylvania, joining every other northeastern state.
Judge Jones wrote, "The plaintiff couples have shared in life's joys....We now join the 12 federal district courts across the country, which, when confronted with these inequities in their own states, have concluded that all couples deserve equal dignity in the realm of civil marriage."
Judge John E. Jones, III, in the free spirit of our American Founding Fathers, meeting in Pennsylvania in 1776 and 1787, has now secured his place in history!
Three cheers for United States District Court Judge John E. Jones, III, for Article III of our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, Equal Protection and Judicial Independence!
Viva!

Photo credit: The New York Times.

Full disclosure: I was consulting co-counsel for a client in Judge Jones' court in a discrimination case against Penn State University, spending ten days there in 2003. Our client, a Persian professor of mathematics at PSU, who won a jury trial against PSU and was subjected to discrimination, did not prevail. I did not think that Judge Jones was cruelly unfair to him, refusing to allow him to tell the jury that he won his jury trial, oddly calling that datum "inside baseball." (It was 2003 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Saddam Huseein, an Iraqi, was on the run -- he wascaptured before the verdict. Penn State was still wildly popular and Joe Paterno was still an icon.
But now, mirabile dictu, mutatis mutandis, I now greatly respect Judge Jones' growth and depth as an Article III judge. He has become a heroic figure to me, and I salute him.
Footnote: Judge Jones is reportedly a member of the family that owns D.G. Yuengling & Sons Brewery, founded in 1829. Toasts are in order. Three cheers!

Postscript: The Governor of Pennsylvania reportedly will not file an appeal.