The Supreme Court’s Marriage Meddling, Two Years Later

Today is the anniversary of a previous Supreme Court gay marriage decision, United States v. Windsor.

As the Supreme Court prepares to issue a decision on whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex “marriage,” it is appropriate to look back two years ago to another occasion when the court controversially interjected its voice into the public debate on marriage—its decision in United States v. Windsor

To be sure, the legal issue was different. But the effect could be the same: ripping the right to democratic participation out of the hands of the voters, disenfranchising and disillusioning them. A ruling against the voters this time around would be even more egregious, for they will have no remedy in the face of a decision throwing aside their own state constitutions except for the arduous prospect of amending the federal Constitution.

In Windsor, the Court examined the constitutionality of a statute which defined marriage for purposes of federal law, and struck down the law on an unclear basis that appeared to rely on due-process and equal-protection grounds, but was also based significantly on federalism.

Source: Travis Weber, http://thefederalist.com