Marriage Protection Act<\/a> — which would remove the Defense of Marriage Act from federal court review — has the two sides flip-flopped again.<\/p>\nRep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., author of the bill, said the issue is too important to ignore. “Simply put, if federal courts don’t have jurisdiction over marriage issues, they can’t hear them. And if they can’t hear cases regarding marriage policy, they can’t redefine this sacred institution,” Hostettler said when he introduced the legislation in May.<\/p>\n
and<\/p>\n
While Republicans defended states’ rights, Democrats said the phrase recalled Southern opposition to desegregation, which was propelled by a series of federal court rulings.<\/p>\n
That’s closer to the usual alignment, but in point of fact both sides have shown they’re more than willing to depend on Federal law and courts to impose support positions they believe in but that the states have not yet fallen in line behind.<\/p>\n
As to the law itself, it depends on a very rarely used clause of the Constitution itself, Article III, Section 2, Clause 2 (emphasis mine): <\/p>\n
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned [in Clause 1], the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nWhich means it’s probably constitutional, from what I understand, but it strikes me as a pretty bad idea. Congress passing laws and preventing judicial oversight of them strikes me as a dangerous precedent — one as likely to bite any ideological stripe of Congresscritter depending on who’s in the majority. As one observer on the radio noted this morning, “What if a Democratic Congress passes a major gun control bill and adds that the federal courts can’t review it against the Second Amendment?”<\/p>\n
Some folks might consider that a blessing against the tyranny of the judiciary. It seems like an opening for a crazyquilt of extra-constitutional laws to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wasn’t just a week or two ago that GOP lawmakers in Congress were trying to impose a one-size-fits-all Constitutional amendment against gay marriage, to quash even states from allowing such…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,718,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gay-stuff","category-marriage-equality","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":131529,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/13\/marriage-in-name-only.html","url_meta":{"origin":5754,"position":0},"title":"Marriage in Name Only","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 13-Sep-16 10:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"After the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell that blocking gay couples from marrying was unconstitutional, the initial reaction from lawmakers in conservatives states was defiance. That's largely faded, but a new tactic has come onto the scene that's even more insidious, as exemplified in the story below.Rather than blocking gay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6989,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/11\/17\/your_tax_dollar.html","url_meta":{"origin":5754,"position":1},"title":"Your tax dollars at work","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Nov-04 12:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because what we really need to be spending money (and time, and \"political capital\") on is renaming Interstate 69. But, yes, there's a Congresscritter who wants to do just that....","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15157,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/09\/go-massachusetts-go.html","url_meta":{"origin":5754,"position":2},"title":"Go, Massachusetts, Go!","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 9-Jul-09 11:20am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is suing the Federal Government over the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said. The 1996 law denies federal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14773,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/05\/11\/we-were-against-federal-control-before-we-were-for-it.html","url_meta":{"origin":5754,"position":3},"title":"We were against Federal Control before we were for it!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 11-May-09 11:43am","format":false,"excerpt":"As I noted in the Joe the Plumber article, the Right plays a deft ongoing game with federal vs. local control. Basically, if they feel they have the votes to dominate in the national arena, or if they see some other grand political agenda they can push forward, they have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14928,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/06\/01\/somethings-wrong-when-cheneys-more-outspoken-on-a-progressive-topic-than-obama.html","url_meta":{"origin":5754,"position":4},"title":"Something’s wrong when Cheney’s more outspoken on a progressive topic than Obama","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 1-Jun-09 2:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Dick Cheney again reiterated his (conditional) support for gay marriage and gay civil unions, something which the White House has been mum on for quite some time. Speaking at the National Press Club for the Gerald R. Ford Foundation journalism awards, Cheney was asked about recent rulings and legislative action\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22072,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/10\/bryan-fischer-is-a-dolt-states-rights-for-me-but-not-for-thee-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":5754,"position":5},"title":"Bryan Fischer is a Dolt (States Rights for Me, But Not for Thee Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 10-Aug-11 4:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh, Bryan. \u00a0You're so zany when you try to justify your conflicting impulses. \u00a0Some people, for example, believe that the separate states have the right to do largely what they please, except for some very narrowly defined powers reserved to the federal government. Other people believe that the federal government\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dolts"","block_context":{"text":"Dolts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/dolts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/dont-tread-on-me_gadsden-flag.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46725,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5754\/revisions\/46725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}