FLEISCHER AND "STATE MATTERS"

Transcript's up. Here's the passage:

Q And on the Texas sodomy case, does the President believe that gay men have the legal right to have sexual relations in the privacy of their own home?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think on this decision, the administration did not file a brief in this case, unlike in the Michigan case. And this is now a state matter.

Q So he has no position on this?

MR. FLEISCHER: It's just as I indicated, the administration did not file a brief on this -- as, I think, you know.

Again, if I wanted to be interpretively stingy, I could claim that Fleischer is "obviously ignorant of constitutional law" and should be "taken to task" for this, "severely," because he apparently seems to think that states can resist the Court, or at least because he is speaking -- "pandering," even!! -- to his religiously conservative constituency and -- wink! wink! -- telling him that he's on their side.

But that would be more than a little unfair.