Judge: California can't ban same-sex marriage

[Kevin]

Originally posted by KSig RC
As far as I can tell, the reality of the gay marriage issue is that the real split comes in a quasi-Federalist argument of whether it is a state or federal issue. In reality, it's both - each state can mandate marriage as it sees fit, but the federal government does have provisions to recognize marriages between states for purposes of taxation and other 'rights' such as medical care. (I've already posted my diatribe on this situation, so I'll leave it here)

I do agree with the mandate to protect the rights of the minority, but you run into a sticky situation here, in that the minority doesn't have the rights that you're trying to protect. In fact, the 'majority' would have to extend these rights - and majority rule still carries the day in our representative democratic system. You had a nationwide vote when you elected those leaders.



Again, while you're getting trite here, it's important to emphasize the importance of judicial review to our system of checks and balances. Personally, I think that the Federal Supreme Court doesn't want to touch this issue - you'll see some interesting rulings from the state courts along the way, though, just like this one, which you'll recognize as not exactly following the normal process of review.

This is definitely not a perfect system - in fact, in many states I would fear putting my eggs in this basket right now, as a negative judicial review would be mandate for removal of other 'traditional' rights. However, there really doesn't appear to be any reason other than religion for banning gay marriage, and hopefully upon review this is made clear and is decisively outlined by the courts.

Hopefully, this is a solid step in the right direction.

My understanding of the Constitution does tell me that this is absolutely a federal problem/question. Now, as I say at work all the time, "Imnottalawya", but doesn't the 4th Amendment have that pesky "Full Faith & Credit" clause? Doesn't that effectively mean that a marriage granted in one state must be honored in states where it's forbidden to marry gays?

I guess such a thing would probably have to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, but that's how I'm reading this.