Prop 8 Ruled Unconstitutional
By: Ben Crowther
A federal district court in California just ruled Proposition unconstitutional in a 136 page opinion released today. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"Proposition 8 is unconstitutional under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses"
"Although Proposition 8 fails to possess even a rational basis, the evidence presented at trial shows that gays and lesbians are the type of minority strict scrutiny was designed to protect"
"The trial record shows that strict scrutiny is the appropriate standard of review to apply to legislative classifications based on sexual orientation. All classifications based on sexual orientation appear suspect, as the evidence shows that California would rarely, if ever, have a reason to categorize individuals based on their sexual orientation. Here, however, strict scrutiny is unnecessary. Proposition 8 fails to survive even rational basis review."
"fundamental rights may not be submitted to [a] vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.”
"a marriage license is more than a license to have procreative sexual intercourse"
More info at NYTimes, San Francisco Chronicle, HuffPo
2 comments:
Marriage is not a constitutional right for any person. Find in the constitution where marriage is even mentioned. Marriage is based in religion, and since the current trend is to favor separation of church and state, any discussion or argument of marriage should remain outside of the courts. So, once again, marriage is not a right....for anyone.
Actually, according to the Supreme Court, marriage is considered a fundamental right. You can argue with the Supreme Court about whether or not that's actually the case, but since it's established precedent, it must be applied equally to same-sex couples.
And marriage exists as a civil ceremony, a religious ceremony, a social event, a family event, etc. It has social and civil roots farther back than it has religious roots. The courts are only dealing with the civil aspect, and it's appropriate for them to do so.
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