[lit-ideas] Re: States' Rights, Islamism, and the Cordoban Mosque

  • From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:21:07 -0400

On Sat, Aug 14, 2010 at 10:54 AM, Veronica Caley <molleo1@xxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

 It seems to me that there is an issue that Lawrence brings up that is worth
> thinking about.  Namely, why let people vote and then over rule their vote?
>

 The vote was conducted under California law. The overruling was decided
under Federal law, in this case the equal protection clause of the
Constitution. Federal law was held to supersede California law. The
Constitutional issue, which may go to the Supreme Court, concerns states'
rights, the issue over which the Civil War was fought. One side will argue
that it is the states' prerogative to regulate marriage within their
borders. The other will argue that this prerogative is limited by the
Constitutional guarantee of equality under the law. I favor the latter,
seeing in the judge's decision a clear example of what the authors of the
Constitution had in mind when they separated the legislative and judicial
branches of government and added the Bill of Rights to ensure that majority
rule would not always apply, to protect the rights of minorities.

John

-- 
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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