# TN judge tosses out divorce, says SCOTUS now supreme arbiter of marriage **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 12, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603 "2016-08-12T20:00:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603/1 "2016-08-12T20:00:19Z")
[http://www.chattanoogan.com/2015/9/3/307504/Chattanooga-Judge-Dismisses-Divorce.aspx](http://www.chattanoogan.com/2015/9/3/307504/Chattanooga-Judge-Dismisses-Divorce.aspx) Quite a rant. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603/2 "2016-08-12T20:07:34Z")
In order to prevent confusion I edited the title to say arbiter instead of arbitrator per the OP’s request. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603/3 "2016-08-12T20:11:05Z")
I predict this judge will be reprimanded ultimately for his decision. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603/4 "2016-08-12T20:18:35Z")
oh that was funny … the judge has a skill in how to be a smartass that’s enviable …it will go to the higher up court and get settles tho ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603/5 "2016-08-12T20:20:25Z")
Good God. The next time I’m tempted to say I’m bitter about something, I will remind myself of this particular order so that I might have some perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603/6 "2016-08-12T20:23:24Z")
And I just noted the date on the OP’s article. There was aftermath. > **[Board reprimands judge who cited gay marriage ruling in refusal to grant...](https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2016/jan/06/judge-who-cited-gay-marriage-ruling-publicly/)** > > The Hamilton County judge who refused to grant a Signal Mountain couple's divorce petition because of the U.S. Supreme Court's gay marriage decision has been publicly reprimanded by the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603/7 "2016-08-12T20:26:11Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > And I just noted the date on the OP’s article. There was aftermath. > > [http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2016/jan/06/judge-who-cited-gay-marriage-ruling-publicly/343395/](http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2016/jan/06/judge-who-cited-gay-marriage-ruling-publicly/343395/) oops, only read page header date, not article date. Still postworthy. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603/8 "2016-08-12T21:02:26Z")
Yeah, I’d heard of this before. I’m pretty sure the judge was just making a public protest. He knew he wouldn’t be allowed to do that. He knows that it would be his job to issue the divorce anyways, as that’s what the law says. The Supreme Court only nullifies laws after the case has made it to them. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603/9 "2016-08-12T21:08:29Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’m pretty sure the judge was just making a public protest. He knew he wouldn’t be allowed to do that. The judge has every right to make a public protest. He just can’t use his office to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603/10 "2016-08-13T11:29:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The judge has every right to make a public protest. He just can’t use his office to do it. Right: You’re allowed to whine, but not in a way that hurts other people. The judge could just as well have gone onto a local news website and posted his rant beneath some otherwise-unrelated article, like most of his kind do. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-judge-tosses-out-divorce-says-scotus-now-supreme-arbiter-of-marriage/762603/11 "2016-08-13T12:08:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The judge has every right to make a public protest. He just can’t use his office to do it. I didn’t say he was right to do it. I just said that’s what he was doing. He knew the consequences wouldn’t be too bad. If we want to keep people from doing shit like this, and we should, the consequences need to be more severe. Going on his local news or whatever would not have made as big a story.