Judge Voids Marriage, Senate to Face Off

Just in today from the Alliance for Marriage:

WASHINGTON -- [May 12] In the first time that a federal judge has struck down a state constitutional provision limiting marriage to heterosexual couples, U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon on Thursday declared void a provision of the Nebraska constitution that defined marriage as only between a man and a woman and that banned same-sex civil unions, domestic partnerships and other similar relationships.

Bataillon declared in his ruling that under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Nebraska cannot ban same-sex marriages and civil unions.

The ruling may call into question similar provisions in other states' constitutions.

Nebraska voters enacted the provision five years ago, with 70 percent approving it.

This, according to MSNBC, the source for the above story, sets up a battle in the U.S. Senate, already ready to explode in acrimony over the issue of filibustering over judicial appointments.