The Fair Courts E Alert reports:

Former chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and author of the first state supreme court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, Margaret H. Marshall, says that she did not anticipate the resulting individualized attention and backlash. In an interview with The Washington Post, Justice Marshall stated, “It was surprising and painful, for two reasons. First is I have such a high regard for the American democratic system. I came as an immigrant [from South Africa]. The rule of law is the foundation to our success as a nation, and second, because you don’t expect that if you are a judge.”

Writing for Arkansas Business, Brian H. Ratcliff, president-elect of the Arkansas Bar Association, questions whether a similar decision from the Arkansas Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the state’s gay marriage ban, an issue now before the court, might “set off a firestorm of challenges by political and special interest groups to ‘remove’ the judges responsible?” Ratcliff urges Arkansas to “work to preserve its judicial independence or glove up for the constant battle of the branches that will divide our state as we have never seen before.” Marshall maintains that there is a clear line between her role as a justice interpreting the state constitution and her views as an individual. “I don’t mean to be trivial in my response, but I say words one way or other to say it wasn’t me personally. It was the Constitution and the words of the Constitution.”