AZ Briefing: Citrus could find new life in niche operations; Sinema advocates for bill at Arizona Capitol; Phoenix Sky Harbor parking guide
Good morning, Arizona. Here's what our reporters are working on and what you should know about what's happening across the state before you start your day.
Citrus remains an iconic stamp of Arizona's history and a symbol of agricultural heritage dating back to when the industry was inscribed as one of the foundational Five C's that built the economy of a young state.
Now, the industry is threatened but could find new life in unexpected places.
Other big stories
➤ Kyrsten Sinema returned Monday to where her political career began: the Arizona House. She touted the benefits of ibogaine to treat military brain injuries.
➤ Does the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protect members of the military from delinquent rent bills? Find out in this week's real estate law column.
➤ The Trump administration has backed off an order that made it harder for immigrants to receive legal assistance to remain in the U.S. Here's what to know.
➤ Movies: Read media critic Bill Goodykoontz's latest movie and TV reviews, plus media columns and a discussion of the latest news and trends out of Hollywood (and beyond). Subscribe to read every Friday.
➤ Arizona citrus farms are looking to diversify as climate change and international competition threaten one of the state's staple crops. Take a look.
➤ Today, you can expect it to be very warm with a high near 87 degrees. Expect it to be clear at night with a low near 56 degrees. Get the full forecast here.
Sky Harbor Airport parking guide
Sky Harbor Airport parking includes premium, economy and off-site options. Here's what they cost and whether you can park without a reservation.
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Today in history
Here are just some of the events on this date in the past.
On this day in 1957: In Butler v. Michigan, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a Michigan law barring sale of books with content that could corrupt 'the morals of youth' was unconstitutional, a violation of the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause. Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote in the court's opinion, 'The incidence of this enactment is to reduce the adult population of Michigan to reading only what is fit for children.'
In Butler v. Michigan, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a Michigan law barring sale of books with content that could corrupt 'the morals of youth' was unconstitutional, a violation of the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause. Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote in the court's opinion, 'The incidence of this enactment is to reduce the adult population of Michigan to reading only what is fit for children.' In 1986: Three days after the United States ended its support of the dictator, Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines to Hawaii. His successor, President Corazon Aquino, was sworn in.
Three days after the United States ended its support of the dictator, Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines to Hawaii. His successor, President Corazon Aquino, was sworn in. In 1991: The Warsaw Pact, an alliance of Eastern Bloc nations led by the Soviet Union and formed in 1955 to counter NATO, was dissolved during a meeting in Hungary.
The Warsaw Pact, an alliance of Eastern Bloc nations led by the Soviet Union and formed in 1955 to counter NATO, was dissolved during a meeting in Hungary. In 1994: Baruch Goldstein, an American-born doctor who had been living and working in the West Bank, shot and killed 29 Palestinians praying in a mosque in Hebron before being beaten to death by the survivors of the attack.
Baruch Goldstein, an American-born doctor who had been living and working in the West Bank, shot and killed 29 Palestinians praying in a mosque in Hebron before being beaten to death by the survivors of the attack. In 2004: ' The Passion of the Christ,' a film about the final hours of Jesus' life, opened in the United States on Ash Wednesday. Even before its release, the film's topic raised concerns it might prompt a rise in antisemitism.
The Passion of the Christ,' a film about the final hours of Jesus' life, opened in the United States on Ash Wednesday. Even before its release, the film's topic raised concerns it might prompt a rise in antisemitism. In 2020: Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, incident manager for the COVID-19 response, told the nation to prepare for mitigation efforts to fight the spread of the disease, including canceling of gatherings, as well as shutdowns of schools and workplaces. Messonnier said the 'disruption to everyday life may be severe.'
— William Cain, USA TODAY Network
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Texas lender embraces independence amid flurry of consolidation
This story was originally published on Banking Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Banking Dive newsletter. Amid a flurry of banking expansion and consolidation activity in Texas, the outgoing and incoming CEOs of a $3 billion-asset Texas bank said they believe community lenders maintain an important role in the state. Danny Butler, CEO and president of San Antonio-based Jefferson Bank, will retire Dec. 31 after 26 years with the family-owned bank; Mitch Walker, the bank's current chief operating officer, will succeed Butler as CEO on Jan. 1, 2026. Reagan Winslow, who leads the bank's trust division, will take on the president role. The lender recently completed a new, 13-story headquarters in San Antonio, which Butler called a signal to staff and the community 'that Jefferson Bank is a longtime player.' With Texas seeing significant population and business growth in recent years, there's been a surge in banks angling to grow their presence in the state. That's happening organically, as with Frost, and by acquisition. Houston-based Prosperity struck a deal to buy in-state peer American Bank. Meanwhile, global banks and regionals based outside Texas —bJPMorgan Chase, PNC and Huntington, for example — are either digging deeper in Texas through branch expansions or acquiring banks in the state. Bank merger-and-acquisition activity is expected to continue, with regulators reducing M&A hurdles and smaller banks facing ongoing pressure from technology and compliance costs and succession planning issues. Texas, in particular, has seen a number of recent deals: It's the most targeted state this year in bank M&A, and five announcements with Texas ties were made in July alone, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. The Lone Star State has 300-plus banks, and even though it's a huge state, 'you don't need 300 banks,' said Joe Silvia, a Chicago-based partner at law firm Duane Morris. Privately held Jefferson, for one, plans to remain independent, despite having multiple opportunities to sell, Butler said. 'The desire to sell, honestly, is not there,' he said during a recent joint interview with Walker. Despite big banks' attention on Texas, Butler and Walker, who's been with the bank for 18 years, aren't worried. Some larger lenders that enter the market through an acquisition displace local talent and bring in their own bankers and staff who don't know the market, Butler said. 'It's real hard for a business person to explain to somebody out of state, 'Well, here's what I'm trying to do here in Texas,'' he said. 'We find that people like to do business with folks that know the community, know the state, know the region,' Butler said, and 'that's where banks of our size fit.' Butler and Walker are also eyeing opportunities that arise with M&A activity, namely customer and talent acquisition. 'A lot of times, there's going to be displacement of people,' Butler said. If a customer has to get to know whomever takes over their bank relationship, 'it opens the door for them to explore other opportunities. And that's where we can come in,' he said. The nearly 80-year-old lender also has wealth, mortgage and insurance divisions. Those various units allow the bank to solicit customers with the ability to serve multiple needs, and double down on relationship-building, Butler and Walker said. For customers, 'it's not going to always be rainbows and lollipops every year,' Butler said. 'Everybody chases the deal when it's in full bloom, but if it starts to wither a little bit,' some banks back away, he added. Jefferson aims to stand out by working with customers if they run into challenges, 'and that's where a relationship is really won,' said Butler, who's seen the bank's assets grow from $300 million to about $3 billion during his tenure. 'We will get competitive, but we do expect a complete relationship,' Butler said, noting that the bank prizes clients' deposits. 'We're not going to make a loan just for the sake of making a loan.' Identifying Jefferson's sweet spot is tough, Walker said. The bank, which largely works with privately held, small and midsize businesses and their principals, generally takes an industry-agnostic approach. 'We like deals that make sense,' he said. The bank prides itself on its strong customer relationships, but when it comes to technology, 'it's no secret that banking is getting harder from that perspective, and there's more competition,' Walker said. That's one of the challenges ahead as he prepares to take the helm of the bank. 'How we position ourselves as far as technology and where we want to be, I think that's a whole lot of what Mitch is thinking about,' Butler said, noting CEO succession planning began about five years ago, and the bank preferred an internal candidate. 'We've got to keep our product line, our technology, anything that the customer wants – we've got to make sure that we offer that,' Butler said. Over the next four months, bank leadership will conduct strategic planning and engage with employees and stakeholders, Walker noted – a welcome exercise when the COVID-19 pandemic and rising interest rate environment of the last five years meant the bank had to be more reactive than proactive, he said. Walker expressed confidence Jefferson can acquire talent or work with partners to ensure it remains relevant and competitive from a technology perspective. He pointed to the plethora of community banks in Texas — a contrast to Arizona, where he grew up. 'There's a place in our ecosystem for banks of all sizes,' Walker said. Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Florida death row inmate Edward Zakrzewski has been executed
Three decades after brutally murdering his wife and kids and escaping to Hawaii, Edward Zakrzewski will be executed today after the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to halt the execution. Edward Zakrzewski has been executed Edward Zakrzewski was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. ET, Thursday, July 31. In his final words he said "I want to thank the good people of the Sunshine State for killing me in the most cold and calculated, clean, humane and efficient way possible. I have no complaints whatsoever." He then quoted Robert Frost''s famous poem, "He Stopped by Woods on a Snowy Evening," stopping partly way through. The execution phase got underway about 6:04 p.m., his breathing slowed nearly immediately after a few hard gasps, and he was pronounced by 6:13 p.m. None of the 13 people who witnessed the execution chose to speak during the press conference following the execution. Witnesses included media, law enforcement and Department of Corrections officials. A small group of protestors remained outside the prison as media were escorted out. Two Florida executions still scheduled for August Edward Zakrzewski's execution will set a new modern day record in Florida for the number of prisoners executed in a single year. Two additional inmates are scheduled to be executed by the end of August. Kayle Barrington Bates is currently slated for execution on Aug. 19 for the 1982 murder of a woman in Bay County. Kayle Bates was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and attempted sexual battery in the1982 slaying of 24-year-old Janet Renee White of Lynn Haven. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also signed a death warrant this week for Curtis Windom, who was convicted of killing three people in 1992 in Orange County. Windom's execution is scheduled for Aug. 28. Nationwide, there are 11 planned executions remaining in 2026, at least at this time, including Zakrzewski, Bates and Windom. Who is the executioner who administers Florida's lethal injection? The executioner is a private citizen who is paid $150 per execution. State law allows for his or her identity to remain anonymous. How does lethal injection work? According to Death Penalty Information Center, Florida authorizes lethal injection, three‑drug protocol (Etomidate, Rocuronium bromide, Potassium acetate). This is the option that will be used in today's execution. In one-drug executions, the prisoner is given a large dose of pentobarbital, which causes death. In multi-drug executions, the process starts with a sedative. In January 2017, Florida abandoned its use of midazolam as the first drug in its three-drug protocol and replaced it with etomidate, to make the prisoner unconscious. A second drug, usually rocuronium bromide, is then used to paralyze the body and stop breathing. The final drug, potassium acetate, stops the heart. Edward Zakrzewski has his last meal Edward Zakrzewski woke at 5 a.m. today, the day of his execution. For his last meal he had fried pork chops, fried onions, potatoes, bacon, toast, root beer, ice cream, pie and coffee. He had one visitor, who was not identified, and did not take advantage of meeting with a spiritual advisor. It is not known at this time if any family members plan to be in attendance, according to Paul Walker, deputy communications director for the Florida Department of Investigations. How does Florida execute death row inmates? Before 1923, executions were usually performed by hanging. The Florida Legislature passed a law replacing that method with an electric chair, which was built by prison inmates. The first person electrocuted by the state was Frank Johnson in 1924, for shooting and killing a Jacksonville railroad engineer during a burglary. Florida's current three-legged electric chair, nicknamed 'Old Sparky,' was built of oak by Florida Department of Corrections staff and installed at Florida State Prison in Raiford in 1999. Legislation passed in 2000 allows for lethal injection as an alternative to the electric chair. The choice is left up to the inmate. All executions, injection or electric chair, are carried out at the execution chamber located at Florida State Prison in Raiford. The executioner, a private citizen allowed to remain anonymous by state law, is paid $150 per execution. Where are death row inmates executed in Florida? Men on death row are housed at Florida State Prison and Union Correctional Institution in Raiford. Women are housed at Lowell Annex in Lowell. Florida law allows firing squads, hanging, nitrogen gas in executions Florida has added new options in 2025 for methods of execution. The Sunshine State has executed people by electrocution since 1924, and lethal injection was added in 2000. Among the 17 bills Gov. Ron DeSantis signed on May 22 was one that opens the door to nitrogen gas, hangings, and firing squads. House Bill 903, which called for sweeping changes in inmate lawsuits, mandatory minimum prison time, how inmates diagnosed with mental illness are treated and involuntary placement and treatment, among other things, also allows any form of execution, provided it was "not deemed unconstitutional," if electrocution or lethal injection is found to be unconstitutional or lethal injection drugs become unavailable. In recent years, states have turned to other methods of executions after some pharmaceutical companies have balked at providing lethal injection drugs. Convicted murderer and rapist Jessie Hoffman was executed by nitrogen gas in Louisiana, and South Carolina brought back firing squads for two murderers this year. Florida has also expanded the range of capital offenses. In 2023, the state added child rape as a capital offense, in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, and made it easier to impose a death sentence by repealing a unanimous jury requirement. The same day DeSantis signed HB 903 he also signed HB 693, which adds aggravating factors for capital felonies if the victim was gathered with one or more persons for a school activity, religious activity, or public government meeting. What happens on a death row inmate's day of execution? The Florida Department of Corrections lays out the detailed protocol for a convict's execution day. Its guidance includes in part: "A food service director, or his/her designee, will personally prepare and serve the inmate's last meal. The inmate will be allowed to request specific food and non-alcoholic drink to the extent such food and drink costs forty dollars ($40) or less, is available at the institution, and is approved by the food service director." "The inmate will be escorted by one or more team members to the shower area, where a team member of the same gender will supervise the showering of the inmate. Immediately thereafter, the inmate will be returned to his/her assigned cell and issued appropriate clothing. A designated member of the execution team will obtain and deliver the clothing to the inmate." "A designated execution team member will ensure that the telephone in the execution chamber is fully functional and that there is a fully-charged, fully-functional cellular telephone in the execution chamber. Telephone calls will be placed from the telephone to ensure proper operation. Additionally, a member of the team shall ensure that the two-way audio communication system and the visual monitoring equipment arc fully functional. "The only staff authorized to be in the execution chamber area are members of the execution team and others as approved by the team warden, including two monitors from FDLE. A designated execution team member, in the presence of one or more additional team members and an independent observer from FDLE, will prepare the lethal injection chemicals as follows, ensuring that each syringe used in the lethal injection process is appropriately labeled...." Death penalty opponents gather outside Florida prison Maria DeLiberato with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said she and a group of as many as 50 would be at the Florida State Prison facility in Raiford to conduct a prayer service for Death Row inmate Edward Zakrzewski, victims of his crimes and the families of all those involved. She said the most shocking thing about the state's decision to execute Zakrzewski is it's overlooking the fact that in 1996 a 12-person jury voted 7-5 to put him to death for the killings of his wife, Sylvia, and 7-year-old son Edward and did not even reach a majority in the case of 5-year-old Anna. "He wouldn't even be eligible for the death penalty in Florida today," she said. "In no other state in the country, or even present day Florida, would he be eligible for execution," she said. Most states, Alabama and Florida are exceptions, require a unanimous decision by a jury to impose a death sentence. Florida upheld the unanimous standard from 2017 until 2023. That year legislators changed the law to allow an 8-4 majority of jurors to be considered a sufficient majority. DeLiberato said that in her 22 years of practicing law she has never witnessed the "frenzied pace of executions" the state of Florida is seeing this year. Zakrzewski will be the ninth Floridian put to death this year and Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed death warrants to allow two more executions to occur in August. "The governor solely decides who lives and dies," she said. "He is certainly responsible for the number of killings this year." She said the governor has been asked by reporters and confronted by clerics regarding his stance on the death penalty and, when he addresses the issue at all, typically tends to refer those who ask to a statement he made in May about the heinous nature of the crimes committed by those on death row. Who has been executed in Florida in 2025? Michael Bernard Bell was executed July 15 for the 1993 revenge killings of 23-year-old Jimmy West and 18-year-old Tamecka Smith, who were gunned down with an AK-47 assault rifle outside a Jacksonville bar. Thomas Gudinas was executed June 24 for the 1994 murder of Michelle McGrath, who was attacked after leaving a night club in downtown Orlando and found dead in an alley the next morning. Anthony F. Wainwright was executed June 10 for the 1994 of Carmen Tortora Gayheart, a student at Lake City Community College and the mother of children ages 3 and 5. Gayheart was loading groceries into a Ford Bronco in a Lake City Winn Dixie parking lot when she was forced at gunpoint into her vehicle by Wainwright and another man, taken to a rural area and shot twice. Glen Edward Rogers, dubbed the "Casanova Killer" was convicted of murder in a cross-country killing spree of single mothers with reddish hair that began in Los Angeles on Sept. 28, 1995. He was executed May 15 for the murder of Tina Marie Cribbs, a 34-year-old mother of two, found stabbed to death in a Tampa hotel bathtub. Jeffrey Hutchinson, a Gulf War veteran, was executed May 1 for the shooting deaths of his girlfriend and her three children. The 62-year-old former U.S. Army Ranger was convicted for the 1998 murder of 32-year-old Renee Flaherty, and her three children: 9-year-old Geoffrey, 7-year-old Amanda, and 4-year-old Logan in Okaloosa County. Michael A. Tanzi was executed April 8 for the 2000 murder of Janet Acosta, a Miami Herald employee who was attacked on her lunch break. Edward T. James was executed March 20 for the brutal 1993 murders of 58-year-old Elizabeth "Betty" Dick and her 8-year-old granddaughter, Toni Neuner, who was raped in her metro Orlando city of Casselberry home. James He had been renting a room in Dick's home for about six months and had known the family for years, according to archived news stories. James D. Ford, 64, was executed Feb. 2, 2025 for the 1997 savage murders of Gregory and Kimberly Malnory in front of their toddler daughter in 1997. When is the next execution in Florida? When was the last execution? Edward Zakrzewski is scheduled to be executed on July 31, just two weeks after the execution of Michael Bell, who was convicted of murdering a Jacksonville couple in 1993 in a revenge killing aimed at the wrong person. Zakrzewski will be the ninth Florida inmate executed this year. The next Florida inmate facing execution is Kayle Barrington Bates on Aug. 19 for the 1982 murder of a woman in Bay County. Kayle Bates was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and attempted sexual battery in the1982 slaying of 24-year-old Janet Renee White of Lynn Haven. Ron DeSantis also signed a death warrant for Curtis Windom, who was convicted of killing three people in 1992 in Orange County, on July 29. Windom's execution is scheduled for Aug. 28. This will be the second month in 2025 when two executions were held. Jeffrey Hutchinson and Glen E. Rogers were both put to death in May. Anthony F. Wainwright was executed in June. There have been executions every month this year except for January. In signing Zakrzewski's death warrant on July 1, DeSantis set the stage to break the modern-day record for number of executions in one calendar year set by former governors Bob Graham in 1984 and Rick Scott in 2014, with six months still left to go in 2025. Nationwide, there are 11 planned executions remaining in 2026, at least at this time, including Zakrzewski, Bates and Windom. Who is being executed? Who is Edward Zakrzewski? Edward J. Zakrzewski II pleaded guilty to killing his wife Sylvia inside their Okaloosa County home in 1994 by bludgeoning her with a crowbar, strangling her and striking her with a machete, according to court records. Then he turned the machete on his 7-year-old son, Edward, and his 5-year-old daughter, Anna, hacking them to death. At the time, Zakrzewski, now 60, was a 29-year-old tech sergeant stationed at Eglin Air Force Base who was unhappy that his wife was considering divorce. Zakrzewski came from Kalamazoo, Michigan and met his wife in 1986 when he was stationed in Montana. Sylvia, who is from South Korea, changed her name from Pun Im after their marriage. Zakrzewski was stationed in South Korea for three years between 1989 and 1992, and later transferred to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and lived in Mary Esther in Okaloosa County in the Florida Panhandle. What time is the Florida execution today? The execution of Edward Zakrzewski, who killed his wife and two children in their Mary Esther home in 1994, will happen as scheduled at 6 p.m. ET tonight, July 31, at the Florida State Prison in Raiford. U.S. Supreme Court denies Zakrzewski's stay of execution request The United State Supreme Court denied Zakrzewski's writ of certiorari July 30 without dissent. Attorneys for the defendant had asked justices for a stay of execution and give consideration to the slim 7-5 margin by which a 1996 Circuit Court jury had voted to sentence Zakrzewski to death. It was more than 30 years ago, June 9, 1994, that Zakrzewski, a 29-year-old tech sergeant stationed at Eglin Air Force Base who was unhappy that his wife, Sylvia, was considering divorce, killed her and the couple's two children, 7-year-old Edward and 5-year-old Anna, inside the family's Mary Esther home. Attorneys for Zakrzewski, 60, urged the court to block the Death Row inmate's execution, arguing that Florida 'is an extreme outlier when it comes to capital punishment.' The attorneys filed a petition and a motion for a stay of execution July 24, two days after the Florida Supreme Court ruled against Zakrzewski. Zakrzewski's execution would make him the ninth inmate put to death by lethal injection this year, setting a modern-era record. The arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court centered on jury recommendations in 1996 before Circuit Judge G. Robert Barron issued three death sentences for Zakrzewski. Florida execution: Decades after airman butchered family, Edward Zakrzewski will be put to death in next Florida execution The jury voted 7-5 to recommend death sentences in the murders of Zakrzewski's wife, Sylvia, and 7-year-old son, Edward. The jury deadlocked 6-6 in its recommendation in the murder of Zakrzewski's 5-year-old daughter, Anna. In a rare move at a sentencing hearing held April 19, 1996, Barron overruled the jury and sentenced Zakrzewski to death for all three of the murders. An Appeals Court affirmed the judge's decision. Current Florida law requires that at least eight jurors recommend death for such a sentence to be imposed, while almost all other states that have the death penalty require unanimous jury recommendations. Zakrzewski's attorneys contend that executing him after the 7-5 recommendations and the override would be unconstitutional. This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Florida execution today is for killer Edward Zakrzewski - updates
USA Today
7 hours ago
- USA Today
Same-sex marriage has overwhelming support. Supreme Court should let ruling stand.
We have two decades of evidence that marriage equality has helped millions of people across America. LGBTQ+ people want what everyone else wants, including to live in marriage with those they love. As national news outlets recently picked up the story about a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the future of equal marriage for same-sex couples, both of us received a barrage of messages from worried friends and colleagues. We understand people are concerned about their families and children, or about whether they'll be able to legally marry in the future. In the tumult of these times, nearly everyone is anxious about how to protect themselves and their loved ones. Let's set the foundation about where we are. Marriage equality is the law of the land and overwhelmingly supported by the American people. The landmark Obergefell v. Hodges ruling from 2015 affirmed the protections in our U.S. Constitution saying that people, not the government, should be able to decide whom they marry, and that equal protection requires access to legal marriage for same-sex couples on the same terms and conditions as others. It was rightly decided under our constitutional due process and equal protection principles. The 2022 Respect for Marriage Act, approved by bipartisan majorities in Congress, enshrines respect for those marriages under federal and state law. Over 823,000 married same-sex couples live in the US A recent report from The Williams Institute found that there are more than 823,000 married same-sex couples in the United States as of June, and they are raising nearly 300,000 children. These couples have married because they love each other, they want legal formalization of their mutual commitment and responsibility, and they want to provide stable, protective homes for their children. While we should take seriously any petition to the Supreme Court, the one submitted recently is especially weak. It comes from the lawyers for Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples 10 years ago and instructed her office to do the same. Eventually, a court granted damages to a couple who were repeatedly denied a license. Davis has been to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals three times about the couples' suit and lost each time, and the entire 6th Circuit ‒ including six judges appointed by President Donald Trump ‒ has unanimously denied her a rehearing. Opinion: What happens if gay marriage is overturned? The question alone is horrifying. Davis' team has requested review from the Supreme Court, of those damages and of the Obergefell ruling, which is her right. However, given that the issues that Davis claims need resolution are narrow and already well settled, it would be highly unusual for the Supreme Court to grant review. The freedom to marry for same-sex couples remains extremely popular. People from all walks of life, across faith groups and across the political spectrum continue to express strong support. A majority of people in every single state are supportive, according to the Public Religion Research Institute. Recent Gallup polling found that 68% of Americans support marriage for same-sex couples, and a survey conducted by three right-of-center polling firms tracked support at 72%, including 56% of Republicans. Former opponents now support same-sex marriage Individuals and entities that were some of the strongest opponents of marriage equality have evolved. Two decades ago, the two of us worked together in Massachusetts to win and protect marriage in the very first state. Then-Gov. Mitt Romney fought hard to ensure the ruling never took effect. And yet in 2022, Romney voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, stating that "Congress − and I − esteem and love all of our fellow Americans equally.' In 2008, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints played a lead role in undoing marriage equality in California via Proposition 8. Fourteen years later, the church also backed the Respect for Marriage Act. For so many Americans, this isn't about politics. It's about letting people live their lives. Same-sex couples build families and contribute to their communities just like anyone else. That's the reality, and it's working. Opinion: Supreme Court isn't poised to end gay marriage, despite the media's fearmongering We now have two decades of evidence that marriage equality has helped millions of people across the country. In 2024, the nonpartisan RAND released a study about marriage for same-sex couples. The think tank found many positive outcomes, including for children, health, financial well-being and relationship stability. The researchers pressure-tested opponents' claims of harms to society, like rising divorce rates or lower marriage rates, and found 'no empirical basis for concerns that allowing same-sex couples to marry has negatively affected different-sex couples and families.' We've never taken our eye off this ball, and we never will. We will learn as early as this fall what the U.S. Supreme Court will do with the request from Davis' lawyers. Should the high court grant review, LGBTQ+ legal and advocacy groups and millions of Americans from all walks of life will engage to protect what we all long fought for and the overwhelming majority of people support. For decades, we've seen how finding common ground on why marriage matters for families and communities − and why it is good for everyone, regardless of who they are or whom they love − moves our community forward. Together, we can remind the country that LGBTQ+ people want what everyone else wants, including to live in marriage with the people they love, to care for their families, and to raise their kids in safety and dignity. Mary Bonauto, a senior director at GLAD Law, argued the first marriage win in Massachusetts in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health and Obergefell v. Hodges before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015. Marc Solomon, a partner at Civitas Public Affairs Group, was national campaign director of Freedom to Marry. He is the author of "Winning Marriage: The Inside Story of How Same-Sex Couples Took On the Politicians and Pundits – and Won."
