Aug 13, 2009 by Bruce
Perry v. Schwarzenegger: The Roe v. Wade of Marriage?
What’s worse than a state supreme court declaring that same-sex “marriage” is somehow mandated by its state constitution, as the highest courts in Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut and California (now overridden, thankfully, due to Prop. 8 ) have done?
Answer: The U.S. Supreme Court declaring that a state marriage amendment violates the U.S. Constitution. Why is that worse? Because if the Supreme Court discovers the “right” to same-sex “marriage” hidden in the “emanations and penumbras” of the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th Amendment, such a finding would necessarily invalidate every state marriage amendment or statute defining marriage as between one man and one woman. That’s the same effect Roe v. Wade had on all 50 states when the Supreme Court ruled a Texas law prohibiting abortion unconstitutional because the “right” to abortion could be found in the Constitution somewhere.
Perry v. Schwarzenegger is such a case, pending now in a California federal district court. The plaintiffs, a pair of homosexual couples, are asking the federal courts to declare that “Prop. 8”…and any other California law that bars same-sex marriage violate the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment….”
There was an earlier federal case with a similar challenge to the Nebraska marriage amendment that won at the district court, but was reversed by the 8th Circuit – meaning that the Nebraska marriage amendment was ultimately upheld as not violating the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The Perry case looks destined for the Supreme Court in a couple of years, after the federal district court has ruled, followed by the 9th Circuit working its liberal magic on appeal.
I’m an optimist. I’d like to believe that the Supreme Court will avoid re-defining marriage, if for no other reason than to avoid the same culture war it created with Roe v. Wade. But we’ll see. We’ll be discussing Perry as it unfolds right here at DriveThru as well as in Citizenlink, so stay tuned.
