Last night, I re-read the decision that got the marriage fight started in Washington State: King County Superior Court Judge William L. Downing’s August 2004 decision declaring this state’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional.

It’s a really well-written decision, and one of the strongest and most lucid statements of legal support for gay marriage rights I’ve ever read, but it begins with this not-very-optimistic opening:

Whether or not same-sex marriage’s day has arrived, the debaters of its attendant legal issues have now arrived in the courts of Washington…

Doesn’t sound to me like Downing had high hopes that the state Supreme Court would agree with him on appeal.