A User's Guide to Day 2 of Gay Marriage at the Supreme Court, DOMA Edition

Have you heard? The Supreme Court is finally reviewing the gay marriage issue that this country's been waiting literally decades to resolve. Tuesday, the justices heard oral arguments?and asked key questions on Hollingsworth vs. Perry, the case about California's Proposition 8. On Wednesday, it's time for United States vs. Windsor, the decisive case in determining whether the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is constitutional or not. Political stars like Nancy Pelosi and Tammy Baldwin, the nation's only gay senator, plan to attend. So do a lot of other people. Corporations, non-profits, and all their friends have weighed in with over 300 amicus briefs having been filed. It's a big deal, and compounded all the more by the will-they-or-won't-they hedge from Day One on same-sex marriage at the Court. But if you haven't been following this case for the past four years, or if the last 24 hours have been a little overwhelming with all the?legalese, don't worry. We've got you covered.

RELATED: How to Follow Today's Supreme Court Prop 8 Hearing, Voraciously

The Basics

Edith Windsor is a New York woman in her eighties who married Thea Speyer, her same-sex partner of 40 years, in Canada six years ago. In 2009, Speyer passed away, leaving her entire estate to Windsor who was slapped with a $363,000 tax bill. If it hadn't been for DOMA, the 1996 law that defined marriage at the federal level as the union between a man and a woman, she wouldn't have had to pay any taxes. So she reached out to some gay and lesbian advocacy groups, found a lawyer willing to start the fight, won the support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2011.?

RELATED: How the Supreme Court May Buck Public Opinion on Gay Marriage, in Charts

It was destined to be a big case from the start. Windsor's was one of the cases that Attorney General Eric Holder cited in his February 23, 2011 statement announcing that the Obama administration could no longer defend portions of DOMA that it believed to be unconstitutional. This set the stage either for Congress to repeal the law or for the courts to overturn it. In June of 2012, the Southern District Court in New York ruled Section 3 of DOMA to be unconstitutional, pointing to the Fifth Amendment, and ordered for the federal government to give Windsor a tax refund. The Justice Department appealed a few days later, sending the case back to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the lower court's ruling in October. The DOJ appealed again, and on December 11, the Supreme Court granted certiorari, paving the way for Wednesday's hearing.

RELATED: Jon Stewart on Conservatives' Big Gay Marriage Trap

All this stirred the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), a Republican-led group of congressmen and women who want to uphold the law in its current form, into action. The group disagreed with Obama administration which argued that sexual orientation was subject to heightened scrutiny, because gays and lesbians were discriminated against. BLAG later said that gays and lesbians are "one of the most influential, best-connected, and best-organized groups in modern politics, and have attained more legislative victories, political power, and popular favor in less time than virtually any other group in American history." BLAG has filed briefs along the way and argued that Congress doesn't infringe upon states' rights, as other's have claimed. While they're not technically defending DOMA in court, they've filed an amicus brief ahead of Wednesday's arguments and have played a major role in the case so far.

RELATED: Federal Court: DOMA Violates Married Same-Sex Couples' Rights

The Issues?

As many have pointed out, the challenges against DOMA have as much to do with how the country makes laws as they do with gay rights. The tricky thing is that the federal government actually agrees with the plaintiff that the law is unconstitutional, so the Supreme Court's first order of business will be to figure out if it even has the jurisdiction to hear the case. It's also unclear exactly what role, if any, BLAG should play in the case. As a result of the weird web of connections between the three parties, the Court appointed Harvard Law Professor Vicki Jackson as a friend of the Court to argue these two points. If everything checks out, the Court will proceed.

RELATED: The Annotated Transcript of the Prop 8 Oral Arguments, with For and Against

This is when things get really fun. The crux of the case rests on whether the federal government overstepped its authority when passing DOMA, but the more fundamental arguments regarding gay rights will play a key role. Windor's lawyers, like the Obama administration, maintain that the law violates the Constitution's equal protection clause.?"The law denies to tens of thousands of same-sex couples who are legally married under state law an array of important federal benefits that are available to legally married opposite-sex couples," writes Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli. These benefits include not only?tax breaks like Windsor missed out on but also immigration and medical benefits.

The other side of the argument represents a mix of tradition and uncertainty. Lawyers for BLAG, however, argue that the law is necessary to encourage responsible procreation ? in other words, to encourage couples to get married before having kids. Windsor's lawyers say that's "irrational, fantastical thinking." However, based on Tuesday's arguments in the case that will determine whether California's voters were within their power when they overturned a state Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriage, the justices themselves are split. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who many legal experts think?holds the deciding vote in the Prop. 8 case, wondered aloud Tuesday about the country having "five years of information to weigh against 2,000 years of history or more" in order to determine the impact of gay marriage on society. But some Court watchers insist that Tuesday's tepidness could have just been the justices teeing up to to strike down DOMA, which President Bill Clinton signed into law more than 16 years ago.

The Comparison

Many people are appropriately wondering how the Court is going to reconcile the DOMA case with the Prop. 8 case. It's not going to be easy. The New York Times's Adam Liptak?suggests that the justices in Tuesday's questioning may have left itself "with an all-or-nothing choice on the merits" of Prop. 8, hinting at a ruling that would be much broader and apply to the whole country. (Rulings on both cases are expected at the end of the Court's term in June.) Then again, as Justice Kennedy's statements suggest, there's been a fair amount of hesitation over whether or not now is the right time to make the final call on gay marriage. It's possible that they could go after a very narrow in one or both cases. Consensus seems to suggest that they might just strike down DOMA and wait for the Prop. 8 issue.

And striking down DOMA?would immediately trigger benefits in the ten states that currently have legalized same-sex unions: Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts New Hampshire, New York, Washington, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. If the justices uphold it, well, nothing changes. Or Edith Windsor could just get her money back in Option No. 3, if the Court deems itself "powerless to decide."

So the bad news is that the fight for gay marriage still faces a pretty uncertain future ? at least until June, and maybe in two pieces when that decision day finally rolls along. The good news is that the wait won't be much longer. So hunker down, bookmark the?SCOTUS blog?for a little after 10 a.m. Eastern,?follow these people on Twitter coming out of the courtroom, and enjoy the show. We'll be right here to make sense of it all for you.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/users-guide-day-2-gay-marriage-supreme-court-051548776.html

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NJ boy, 4, found with dead mom was living on sugar

UNION, N.J. (AP) ? A naked, malnourished 4-year-old boy found inside an apartment with the body of his mother, dead for days, had resorted to eating from a bag of sugar and weighed only 26 pounds, well below normal, police said Wednesday as adoption offers poured in from around the world.

The boy's first request after being examined, police said, was a grilled cheese sandwich and a juice.

His mother, identified Wednesday as Kiana Workman, 38, of New York City's Brooklyn borough, was discovered dead Tuesday on the floor of her bedroom after maintenance workers at the apartment complex in northern New Jersey reported a foul odor. Because the chain lock was on, police said, the toddler couldn't get out.

Officer Joseph Sauer said the boy was naked but coherent and not crying when he kicked in the door and his partner lifted the youngster up by the arms and pulled him out of the overheated apartment.

"The only way to describe the little boy was it was like a scene from World War II, from a concentration camp, he was that skinny. I mean, you could see all his bones," Sauer told The Associated Press.

The apartment in this city 15 miles west of New York belongs to Workman's mother, who is recuperating from surgery at a nursing center, said police, who could not track down any other relatives.

The boy, now in state custody, remained in a hospital where he was being treated for malnourishment and dehydration, police said.

"Physically, he's fine. Whether there are any mental problems later on ... I'm not a child expert," Police Director Daniel Zieser said.

The boy was not strong enough to open the refrigerator and was unable to open a can of soup. Police said he told them he had been eating from a bag of sugar.

The boy could not say how long his mother had been dead.

Police said he put lotion on his mother, leaving behind handprints, in an attempt to help her.

Officer Sylvia Dimenna, who traveled in the ambulance with the boy and stayed with him at the hospital, said he was very bright and articulate but tired.

"He said he missed his mommy," she said.

Police initially estimated she had been dead five days before the discovery was made, but Zieser said Wednesday it may have been two to three. Nobody had talked to her for about a week.

The boy weighed 26 pounds, but at the age of 4? should have weighed 40 pounds or more, Zieser said.

"It's possible he was improperly cared for before the mother's death; we just don't know yet," Zieser said.

Autopsy results that would help them better determine the time of death were pending. Police said they did not suspect foul play.

Police said they were getting calls from around the world from people offering to adopt the child or donate money or toys.

"It's overwhelming," Zieser said.

"I just hope everything works out for the child," the police director said. "We're just going to take it one step at a time and do the best that we can for the child."

Police said they were trying to find someone in the family capable of taking care of the boy, including a brother of Workman believed to live out West. But he said it would be up to the state's child welfare agency to determine where the child is placed.

Zieser described the apartment complex as a well-maintained property with few problems.

But he said everyone there "basically stays to themselves."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nj-boy-4-found-dead-mom-living-sugar-212828288.html

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Delinquent Balances on Home Equity Lines Drop 28 Percent ...

According to Equifax's latest National Consumer Credit Trends Report, severe derogatory or charged-off balances, the bulk of student loan write-offs, for the first two months of the year hit $3 billion, an increase of more than 36 percent from same time a year ago ($1.9 billion) while balances in bankruptcy remained level at $0.5 billion.?In the home finance department, severely delinquent balances on home equity lines of credit declined 28 percent from February 2012 to February 2013, from $14 billion to less than $10 billion.?Severely delinquent balances on closed-end home equity loans declined 25 percent from February 2012 to February 2013, from $6.6 billion to $5 billion.?In that same time, severely delinquent balances on first mortgages declined 23 percent, from $490 billion to $375 billion. Sixty-five?percent of total severely delinquent balances on first mortgages are tied to loans opened from 2005-2007.?Similarly, 73 percent of delinquent balances on home equity lines of credit were opened in that same time period.

"Driven heavily by economic factors, including unemployed or under-employed consumers going back to school along with the rising cost of tuition, student lending has demonstrated consistent, year-over-year growth," said Equifax Chief Economist Amy Crews Cutts. "Continued weakness in labor markets is limiting work options once people graduate or quit their programs, leading to a steady rise in delinquencies and loan write-offs. Many policy options are being discussed regarding how to reduce some of the burden, including graduated payments that reflect the lower starting salaries of new graduates, and improve the performance of these loans."

Other changes in student loan characteristics from February 2012 to February 2013:

?Balances outstanding on student loans increased more than 14 percent, from $746.3 billion to $852.7 billion.

?The number of student loans outstanding increased nearly 13 percent, from 108 million to more than 123 million.

"Student loans are unique today in that they are the only major form of credit that is not rigorously underwritten on either a past credit-performance basis (such as using credit scores) or ability to pay based in income," said Crews Cutts.

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Source: http://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news35818/student-loans-highlighted-recent-equifax-report

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Video: HBT Extra: Not just the East's beasts

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/21134540/vp/51354436#51354436

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Stumbles of S. Korean leader distract month into job

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? South Korean President Park Geun-hye's honeymoon was over before it even began.

Only a month on the job, Park has stumbled repeatedly in the face of bitter opposition to policy proposals and her choices for top government posts.

Half a dozen Cabinet appointees have quit under clouds. The latest is Han Man-soo, who withdrew his nomination for antitrust chief Monday amid allegations he stashed millions of dollars overseas to avoid taxes. Other claims that have brought down Park appointees include real estate speculation, a sex-for-influence scandal, bribery and links to an arms broker.

"A couple of flops would've been acceptable, but having a total of six failures in the first few months means that the problem lies with her style," said Lee Cheol-hee, head of the Dumon Political Strategy Institute think tank. "She seems to think she can just hand down a list of people she prefers, without thinking hard about whether those people's credentials and ethical records fit the jobs they will be handling."

Critics also complain that she's still short on specifics about how to deal with pressing issues including an increasingly belligerent North Korea and serious domestic anxiety about fewer stable jobs, heavy household debt and a wide income gap. Compounding her trouble was a long deadlock that ended just last week over her ambitious proposal to overhaul government structure.

"Because the launch of the new government has been delayed by one month, we should work harder to fulfill our vision," Park said Monday.

Presidential spokeswoman Lee Mi-yeon defended Park's candidates as fresh and different choices, highlighting nominee Jeong H. Kim, a Korean American who was the former head of Bell Labs in the United States, for head of a new science and technology ministry.

Kim resigned earlier this month, citing political wrangling over the responsibilities of the science and technology ministry. Opponents questioned Kim's links to the Central Intelligence Agency as an external advisory board member for four years until 2011.

"The president has chosen people based on their expertise and competence, and she has acquainted herself with them through various activities," Park's spokeswoman said. Lee said the failed appointments have to do with each nominee's credentials rather than with Park's style. Lee also said many key appointments have now been made and the government believes it has turned a corner.

The troubles of the country's first female president have a lot to do with the fiercely divided political and social landscape in this still relatively young and rambunctious democracy. She also carries the heavy historical baggage of being the daughter of a dictator whose legacy still divides South Koreans.

The 61-year-old president, who was elected in December and inaugurated Feb. 25, has long faced claims of being aloof and an "imperial" decision-maker. The genesis of this criticism comes from her upbringing.

She is the eldest child of late President Park Chung-hee, who led South Korea for 18 years in the 1960s and '70s and is both denounced for human rights abuses and praised as a strong leader. She grew up in the Blue House and served as her father's first lady for the last five years of his rule, after her mother was killed in 1974 by an assassin who said he was sent by North Korea.

"When her father ruled, no one questioned the president's picks," Lee, the analyst, said. "But things have changed since. ... It's like Park is driving a car with a navigator system that has only decades-old maps."

Even Park's own ruling Saenuri Party has been critical. A spokesman called for a better system of screening appointees, and said whoever vetted the failed candidates should be held responsible.

Park spent much of her first month in office negotiating with opposition lawmakers over an ambitious government reorganization plan that aims to focus on science and economic growth. An agreement was reached only last week, more than 50 days after Park's party floated the proposal.

Her economic team met for the first time since her inauguration only on Monday, and critics said there was little other than promises of major policy goals and specific plans in coming days and weeks. Her economic policies include buzzwords like "economic democratization" and "creative economy."

"These are slogans more rhetorical than real, and few seem to know exactly what they mean, let alone how to realize them," the Korea Times said in an editorial Wednesday.

Park has made some progress, including an announcement this week of the start of a $1.35 billion fund to provide debt relief for more than half a million people unable to repay loans. The fund, however, is less than one-tenth the size of the one she promised during her campaign.

Despite North Korean threats that have followed new U.N. sanctions over Pyongyang's recent nuclear test, Park has pressed forward with a vow to create trust and renew dialogue after five years of tension and animosity under her hard-line predecessor. She approved a shipment of anti-tuberculosis medicine to North Korea last week.

Things, however, may get worse if political gridlock and bickering continues.

Park faces an opposition with a strengthened veto power, and the possibility of organized resistance to her foreign policy initiatives by prominent liberal groups, Park Ihn-hwi, a professor at Ewha Womans University in South Korea, wrote on the Council on Foreign Relations' website.

Some also see growing cynicism with Park among young South Koreans, many of whom voted for her liberal opponent.

"If a political issue emerges to turn apathy into opposition, there is a real possibility that street demonstrations similar to those that occurred in the early days of the Lee Myung-bak administration could further hamper Park's ability to get things done," Scott Snyder, an analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, said in a blog posting Wednesday.

Lee, Park's conservative predecessor, saw tens of thousands take to the streets in 2008 to protest what opponents called a hasty government decision to allow U.S. beef imports to resume.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stumbles-skorean-leader-distract-month-job-015503480.html

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T-Mobile says its iPhone 5 has HSPA+ on AWS bands, HD Voice

We all know the iPhone is at last reaching T-Mobile -- but what you might not know is that it won't just be a one-for-one port of the existing hardware. Carrier CEO John Legere just stated that the T-Mobile iPhone 5 will support HSPA+ on AWS bands (1,700MHz and 2,100MHz) in addition to ready-made LTE support. If you wander outside of an LTE coverage area, you'll still have up to 42Mbps data on Magenta's network. There's more: it'll also support the same HD Voice calling that went nationwide in January.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Apple, T-Mobile

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/t-mobile-says-its-iphone-5-has-hspa-on-aws-bands/

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Study: Health overhaul to raise claims cost 32 pct

FILE - In this March 23, 2010 file photo, Marcelas Owens of Seattle, left, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., right, and others, look on as President Barack Obama signs the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Medical claims costs _ the biggest driver of health insurance premiums _ will jump an average 32 percent for individual policies under President Barack Obama?s overhaul, according to a study by the nation?s leading group of financial risk analysts. Recently released to its members, the report from the Society of Actuaries could turn into a big headache for the Obama administration at a time when many parts of the country remain skeptical about the Affordable Care Act. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this March 23, 2010 file photo, Marcelas Owens of Seattle, left, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., right, and others, look on as President Barack Obama signs the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Medical claims costs _ the biggest driver of health insurance premiums _ will jump an average 32 percent for individual policies under President Barack Obama?s overhaul, according to a study by the nation?s leading group of financial risk analysts. Recently released to its members, the report from the Society of Actuaries could turn into a big headache for the Obama administration at a time when many parts of the country remain skeptical about the Affordable Care Act. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Map shows projected change in medical claim costs by

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Insurance companies will have to pay out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims on individual health policies under President Barack Obama's overhaul, the nation's leading group of financial risk analysts has estimated.

That's likely to increase premiums for at least some Americans buying individual plans.

The report by the Society of Actuaries could turn into a big headache for the Obama administration at a time when many parts of the country remain skeptical about the Affordable Care Act.

While some states will see medical claims costs per person decline, the report concluded the overwhelming majority will see double-digit increases in their individual health insurance markets, where people purchase coverage directly from insurers.

The disparities are striking. By 2017, the estimated increase would be 62 percent for California, about 80 percent for Ohio, more than 20 percent for Florida and 67 percent for Maryland. Much of the reason for the higher claims costs is that sicker people are expected to join the pool, the report said.

The report did not make similar estimates for employer plans, the mainstay for workers and their families. That's because the primary impact of Obama's law is on people who don't have coverage through their jobs.

The administration questions the design of the study, saying it focused only on one piece of the puzzle and ignored cost relief strategies in the law such as tax credits to help people afford premiums and special payments to insurers who attract an outsize share of the sick. The study also doesn't take into account the potential price-cutting effect of competition in new state insurance markets that will go live on Oct. 1, administration officials said.

At a White House briefing on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said some of what passes for health insurance today is so skimpy it can't be compared to the comprehensive coverage available under the law. "Some of these folks have very high catastrophic plans that don't pay for anything unless you get hit by a bus," she said. "They're really mortgage protection, not health insurance."

A prominent national expert, recently retired Medicare chief actuary Rick Foster, said the report does "a credible job" of estimating potential enrollment and costs under the law, "without trying to tilt the answers in any particular direction."

"Having said that," Foster added, "actuaries tend to be financially conservative, so the various assumptions might be more inclined to consider what might go wrong than to anticipate that everything will work beautifully." Actuaries use statistics and economic theory to make long-range cost projections for insurance and pension programs sponsored by businesses and government. The society is headquartered near Chicago.

Kristi Bohn, an actuary who worked on the study, acknowledged it did not attempt to estimate the effect of subsidies, insurer competition and other factors that could mitigate cost increases. She said the goal was to look at the underlying cost of medical care.

"Claims cost is the most important driver of health care premiums," she said.

"We don't see ourselves as a political organization," Bohn added. "We are trying to figure out what the situation at hand is."

On the plus side, the report found the law will cover more than 32 million currently uninsured Americans when fully phased in. And some states ? including New York and Massachusetts ? will see double-digit declines in costs for claims in the individual market.

Uncertainty over costs has been a major issue since the law passed three years ago, and remains so just months before a big push to cover the uninsured gets rolling Oct. 1. Middle-class households will be able to purchase subsidized private insurance in new marketplaces, while low-income people will be steered to Medicaid and other safety net programs. States are free to accept or reject a Medicaid expansion also offered under the law.

Obama has promised that the new law will bring costs down. That seems a stretch now. While the nation has been enjoying a lull in health care inflation the past few years, even some former administration advisers say a new round of cost-curbing legislation will be needed.

Bohn said the study overall presents a mixed picture.

Millions of now-uninsured people will be covered as the market for directly purchased insurance more than doubles with the help of government subsidies. The study found that market will grow to more than 25 million people. But costs will rise because spending on sicker people and other high-cost groups will overwhelm an influx of younger, healthier people into the program.

Some of the higher-cost cases will come from existing state high-risk insurance pools. Those people will now be able to get coverage in the individual insurance market, since insurance companies will no longer be able to turn them down. Other people will end up buying their own plans because their employers cancel coverage. While some of these individuals might save money for themselves, they will end up raising costs for others.

Part the reason for the wide disparities in the study is that states have different populations and insurance rules. In the relatively small number of states where insurers were already restricted from charging higher rates to older, sicker people, the cost impact is less.

"States are starting from different starting points, and they are all getting closer to one another," said Bohn.

The study also did not model the likely patchwork results from some states accepting the law's Medicaid expansion while others reject it. It presented estimates for two hypothetical scenarios in which all states either accept or reject the expansion.

Larry Levitt, an insurance expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, reviewed the report and said the actuaries need to answer more questions.

"I'd generally characterize it as providing useful background information, but I don't think it's complete enough to be treated as a projection," Levitt said. The conclusion that employers with sicker workers would drop coverage is "speculative," he said.

Another caveat: The Society of Actuaries contracted Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, to do the number-crunching that drives the report. United also owns the nation's largest health insurance company. Bohn said the study reflects the professional conclusions of the society, not Optum or its parent company.

___

AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Online:

Society of Actuaries __ http://www.soa.org/NewlyInsured/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-26-Health%20Overhaul%20Costs/id-71f9eb44c0d2421eaed52447477199d6

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