Would have preferred to let the lower court decision stand, allow gay marriage in CA by default, let a few more states demonstrate the undeniable momentum of history, and only then bring it to SCOTUS.

There’s a non-zero risk of another Plessy v. Ferguson here. Scalia has already pre-announced that he is against gay rights as a no-brainer, meaning there’s at least two, and likely four, votes against it right off the bat.

I would have faith in Kennedy, but his assertion in Citizens United that unrestrained anonymous contributions would not, in his own words, “lead to corruption or even the appearance of corruption,” makes me think he’s not particularly logically reliable anymore.