Judge To Voters : Drop Dead

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Madame's Nightshirt

Mrs. Peperium

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Step back and consider the scene. Judge Walker held a trial to determine whether millions of people living in widely varying circumstances across many centuries had any legitimate reason at all for defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. To make this assessment, the judge needed from those challenging the law only eight lay witnesses and nine expert witnesses. He needed 16 days of trial time. And, of course, he had to apply his own formidable mind to the problem. After bringing the judgment of history before this tribunal, Judge Walker concluded that there was no evidence justifying the traditional definition of marriage. Indeed, the issue did not even present “a debatable question.”

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Comments

[Fear and Loathing in Georgetown]

Well, in fairness to Judge Walker, his remit only deals with the legal reasoning. If millions of people across centuries had religious or cultural or whatever justifications, then those don't really apply to his reasoning.

Not to say that laws are always devoid of cultural or religious influence, but his was a legal analysis, which is different. However, one would hope that mere prudence would give a judge pause before overturning such a long-standing status quo.

[Mrs. Peperium]

Actually they do because he said in his ruling

"there is a fundamental right to same-sex marriage"

Fundamental rights are deeply rooted in our nation's history and tradition. Where is the deeply rooted tradition for same-sex marriage?

He also said:

"there is no rational basis for this law"

Rational basis is the lowest test for constitutionality.

To back up his claim of no ration basis he said,

"the evidence shows conclusively that moral and religious views form the only basis for the view that same-sex marriages are different from opposite sex couples"

According to Judge Walker, religious and moral views are not rational.

(As an aside, what does he think of the Magna Carta?)

Other key quotes:

‘Gender no longer forms an essential part of marriage; marriage under law is a union of equals.’”

“The exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage ‘exists as an artifact of a time when the genders were seen as having distinct roles in society and in marriage,’ he wrote. ‘That time has passed.’”

“The evidence shows that the movement of marriage away from a gendered institution and toward an institution free from state-mandated gender roles reflects an evolution in the understanding of gender rather than a change in marriage.”

“Proposition 8 thus enshrines in the California Constitution a gender restriction that the evidence shows to be nothing more than an artifact of a foregone notion that men and women fulfill different roles in civic life.”

[Mrs. Peperium]

Another thing to note is that Prop 8 didn't ban gay from marrying.

It maintained the traditional meaning (dare I say it - fundamental right to marriage)-1 man 1 woman. Gays enjoy the same right to marry a person of the opposite sex as every one else does. Prop 8 denies not only same-sex but communal marriages as well as marriages to animals.

[Mrs. Peperium]

Per:

“Proposition 8 thus enshrines in the California Constitution a gender restriction that the evidence shows to be nothing more than an artifact of a foregone notion that men and women fulfill different roles in civic life."

My first job in all honesty is going to continue to be mom-in-chief. - Michelle Obama Jan, 2009

From the dictionary:

mom
n. Informal
Mother.

mother

moth·er 1 (mr)
n.
1.
a. A female person who is pregnant with or gives birth to a child.
b. A female person whose egg unites with a sperm, resulting in the conception of a child.
c. A woman who adopts a child.
d. A woman who raises a child.
2. A female parent of an animal.
3. A female ancestor.
4. A woman who holds a position of authority or responsibility similar to that of a mother: a den mother.
5. Roman Catholic Church
a. A mother superior.
b. Used as a form of address for such a woman.
6. A woman who creates, originates, or founds something: "the discovery of radium, which made Marie Curie mother to the Atomic Age" (Alden Whitman).
7. A creative source; an origin: Philosophy is the mother of the sciences.
8. Used as a title for a woman respected for her wisdom and age.
9. Maternal love and tenderness: brought out the mother in her.
10. The biggest or most significant example of its kind: the mother of all battles.
11. Vulgar Slang Something considered extraordinary, as in disagreeableness, size, or intensity.
adj.
1. Relating to or being mother.
2. Characteristic of a mother: mother love.
3. Being the source or origin: the mother church.
4. Derived from or as if from one's mother; native: one's mother language.
v. moth·ered, moth·er·ing, moth·ers