Sunday, February 08, 2004

Gay Marriage Update

Thanks to a commenter at Mrs. du Toit's site, I was able to get the actual text of the judges ruling. Reading through it, one quote that jumped out at me is this, from Marshall, CJ (page 4)

We are mindful that our decision marks a change in the history of our marriage law.

Full stop. All hands on deck. Man the battle stations. I cannot emphasize this enough.

IT IS NOT THE JUDICIARY'S JOB TO CHANGE THE DAMNED LAW! That task is performed by the legislature! THE LEGISLATURE!

And at least one judge recognized that fact: From J. Cordy, dissent: (page 23 of 47)

Because I find these conclusions to be unsupportable in light of the nature of the rights and regulations at issue, the presumption of constitutional validity and significant deference afforded to legislative enactments, and the
"undesirability of the judiciary substituting its notions of correct policy for that of a popularly elected
Legislature
" responsible for making such policy, Zayre Corp. v. Attorney Gen., 372 Mass. 423, 433 (1977),
I respectfully dissent.
(emphasis mine)

That sentence right there is what needs to be hammered into the rock-hard skulls of judges around the country. "The undesirability of the judiciary substituting its notions of correct policy for that of a popularly elected Legislature". What these judges have done is taken the properly elected representatives, the people in charge of speaking for the citizens of this country, and removed them from the equation. Thus, they have removed the people, and the people's desires, out of the equation.

That is simply wrong. This sets a dangerous precedent for the future. Already, a case similar to this one, but involving polygamy, has been filed in Utah. Will it be allowed? It's obvious that the will of the people doesn't matter to the judges, so what do you think will happen?

The way that this came about is nothing short of tragic, and those judges who forced their will upon the people of this country should be impeached. The foundations of law in this country mean nothing if the processes that ensure the foundations success are ignored. If you wish to change the law regarding who may marry whom, then by all means feel free to do it through the legislature. But allowing a group of unelected, unaccountable individuals to simply change laws as they see fit opens up Pandora's Box. Do so at your peril.

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