The Supreme Judicial Court gave Mitt Romney and his conservative cohorts a mild smacking today when the justices ruled that they cannot force legislators to vote on whether or not a proposal to ban gay marriage should be on the 2008 ballot.

This ruling is the latest in a set of complex legal wranglings, which Bostonist has explained here and here, that started when the Legislature recessed before voting on the proposed ballot measure.

Romney had filed a lawsuit in a fit of pique because the legislators postponed the vote, but, the way things are going, he should look elsewhere in order to boost his right-wing street cred as he runs for president.

Romney's team is spinning the vote as a victory because the Supreme Judicial Court says the Legislators should vote on it already, but, if he wanted to arm-twist the Legislature into a vote, then he failed. (The Herald also tried to spin it Romney's way, but all it does is prove that the end result rests with the Legislature.) When the Legislature returns on January 2, they still aren't required to act on the measure, which means Romney & Co. didn't win.

A funny exchange also took place on NECN regarding what Romney had to say about the matter:

Karen Swensen: And I understand that he [Romney] is out of town?
Latoyia Edwards: He's out of town, on vacation, and his spokesperson said that they are considering this information, and they are considering this ruling, and they take it very seriously.

Yep, as usual, nothing is so important to Mitt Romney that he's going to stay in town over the holidays. He hasn't been in town most of this year! To all you mega-conservative nutters out there, Ol' Mitt is playing you like a fiddle. (Then again, you're probably not aware of that because you're probably not reading this blog.)

Besides, Romney ditched the state of Massachusetts long ago, so who cares what he has to say about who gets married here?

Image of Super Mario wedding cake from Flickr user Deadling. Mitt probably thinks video-game-themed wedding cakes are weird, too.