Not done yet! DOMA and Prop 8 decide nothing. I agree the DOMA was law that should not have been written. The Constitution says not one word about Marriage and rightfully so. The word marriage has it's origins in the origins of language, mr for young man of marriageable age and mari, young woman. Then of course the institution was given special status in the Bible. Matthew|19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made [them] at the beginning made them male and female, Matthew|19:5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Matthew|19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Then the States began to regulate it and apparently Jerry Brown has declined to continue as California would not defend the proposition passed by the people of that State. I should imagine another State will before the Supreme Court before very long. The Federal Government did not become involved with marriage until after passing the 16th amendment allowing Income Taxes on income which was only defined in the IRS code. Congress in it's wisdom, decided to promote the institution of Marriage by giving preferential treatment ( or perhaps discriminate) to married people. Now we come to this era where Federal Tax law is driving young men to seek the status sanctified and institutionalized by the church and named after the term for young woman. Perhaps the tax law needs adjusting but I do not think the churches will change. And if or when the actual question is presented before the Supreme Court, I don't not believe the court will for the first time, come up with a finding against the teachings of the Judeo-Christian philosophy.
Um, U.S. Law is not based in "Judeo-Christian" (which doesn't exist BTW, Judaism and Christianity are very different). It is based on the Constitution which not only guarantees freedom of religion but explicitly rules out any religious test. Prop H8 is dead. DOMA is seriously injured, but Section 2 was not ruled on one way or another. That section allows states to refuse to honor marriage performed in other states. A clear violation of Full Faith and Credit. Expect legal challenged. Based on the Constitution, not the gospel of St. Matthew.
Re: Not done yet! DOMA and Prop 8 decide nothing. No, westnob. He clearly says he does not not believe SCOTUS will legalize gay marriage at some point.
Re: Not done yet! DOMA and Prop 8 decide nothing. Oh well when you don't put it that way, and your wording choice is actually not that way, it's all clear.
Re: Not done yet! DOMA and Prop 8 decide nothing. I'm with west on this. I was struggling to follow along with the wording.
Re: Not done yet! DOMA and Prop 8 decide nothing. I should run for office, while I have all this momentum behind me! My campaign slogan will be: People who aren't for the other guy, which isn't me.
If you think that only the Constitution should be considered, then I suppose the 10th amendment would be the basis of the finding. Since marriage is not defined nor even mentioned in the Constitution, it defaults to a State issue. Unless you think that Congress was in error in giving preferential treatment to married people in the IRS code, then they might strip that out. I doubt it since the 16th amendment left it to be defined by Congress as they see fit. You seem to forget, the 10 commandments are on the Door to the Supreme Court. The Constitution gives you freedom of Religion, you may select any church you wish or none at all. But that does not mean in anyway the Judeo-Christian philosophy are not among the founding principals of this Nation. The court has never rule against these teaching because that would indeed violate the religious principles of the vast majority of this Nation.
Re: Not done yet! DOMA and Prop 8 decide nothing. Equal protection is written in the constitution and the court basically ruled 9-0 against DOMA. 5 based on the fifth amendment, 4 because the law is already dead.
The SCOTUS does not make the laws, they just interpret them and strike them down if they violate the US Constitution. So, they don't exactly "legalize" anything. I suppose if we wanted as a society to do away with marriage entirely as a legal status, there would be no problem with that. However, with full faith and credit and equal protection, you can't choose to ignore someone's legal marriage.
The 10 commands on the door of any building even the Supreme court don't prohibiting the free exercise thereof, of any religion. Feel free.
Hold you hands up a little higher! It's over your head. Read the 1st amendment, I gave you the salient clause.