SCOTUS in June, Part 2 (DOMA Decision)
There is no doubt that this decision was the Court’s biggest “F*** YOU” to those who support traditional marriage. What we must face now is the biggest consequence of this decision. SCOTUS has emboldened the gay lobby. Any arguments against their agenda will be labeled hate speech designed to “disparage,” “injure,” “degrade,” “demean,” and “humiliate” them, and they will point to this decision to back it up.
One fun little nugget was when the Court figuratively slapped Obama. The President “instructed the Department” [the Department of Justice] “not to defend the statute”. The Court stated that
…if the Executive’s agreement with a plaintiff that a law is unconstitutional” is enough “…then the Supreme Court’s primary role in determining the constitutionality of a law … would become secondary to the President’s. THIS WOULD UNDERMINE THE CLEAR DICTATE OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS PRINCIPLE THAT “WHEN AN ACT OF CONGRESS IS ALLEGED TO CONFLICT WITH THE CONSTITUTION IT IS EMPHATICALLY THE PROVINCE AND THE DUTY OF THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT TO SAY WHAT THE LAW IS”.
(emphasis added)
One small positive: The Court stated that “DOMA seeks to injure the very class New York seeks to protect. By doing so it violates basic due process and equal protection principles applicable to the Federal Government.”
Many laws work against the values cherished by many Americans, and this sentence can be a powerful way to use a bad decision for good. For instance, Roe v. Wade seeks to injure a very voiceless class of people – the preborn. In every other area of law they are given equal protection, yet in one small area, the Court deprives them of the most important part of Constitutional protections, life, without due process or equal protection. This can be a powerful tool to finally give the unborn their constitutionally guaranteed right to live.
We are now stuck with this decision, and will have to make the best of it. Where it leads, the floodgates it opens, remain to be seen … yet.
Image: Source: Flickr: My Trusty Gavel; author: Brian Turner; Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
