A Political Science Lesson

14th Amendment:  “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws…”

Marriage VS Civil Unions/Domestic Partnerships – Separate is not equal.  It is all there in the supreme law of the land:  The United States Constitution.  The 14th Amendment also clearly forbids the passing of a law that will restrict the rights of any minority group in United States.

1st Amendment of the Constitution:  “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”

Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet, 512 U.S. 687 (1994), Justice David Souter, writing for the majority, concluded that “government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion”.

What is the main argument against gay marriage?  Well most of the picket signs I saw marching outside of the California State Courthouse read something along the lines of “Homo sex is sin.”  Does that seem to have a religious context to you?

Before I get the “We are a Christian Nation” response:

“The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history.”

— John Adams

“Religion I found to be without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, serves principally to divide us and make us unfriendly to one another.”

— Benjamin Franklin

“Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause.  I had hoped that liberal and enlightened thought would have reconciled the Christians so that their religious fights would not endanger the peace of Society.”

— George Washington, letter to Sir Edward Newenham, 6/22/1792

“Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.”

— Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

I think our founding fathers were pretty clear on what they thought about a “Christian Nation”.

Article VI of the United States Constitution:  “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding…”

In other words, any law passed by a state, especially a constitutional amendment restricting the rights of minority group, that conflicts with the US Constitution is invalid and illegal to do.  Proposition 8 clearly conflicts with the 14th Amendment and the 1st Amendment.  In fact any law restricting the rights of any group or individual is undeniable unconstitutional and therefore is invalid.

It is possible to hide behind Amendment 9 of the Constitution: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

But to use this to defend taking way the rights of a minority group is a gross misinterpretation of the Amendment, and the 14th Amendment was ratified to prevent a law being passed that would suppress the rights of a minority group, regardless if the law is supported by a majority.

I heard someone say on the CNN that this was a battle for democracy, but that is not true.  This is a battle for Constitutionality, and if this state amendment stands and other state laws that ban a group of minorities from certain rights also remain ratified it sets a precedence for other states to challenge other United Sates Constitutional Amendments, amendments we as Americans sometimes consider sacred, and that is a very dangerous thing.