States Urged to Defy: Lawless Marriage Edicts by U.S. Courts
Later this year, probably around summertime, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a ruling on homosexual “marriage.” Experts and activists on all sides of the debate expect the high court to overturn state laws and constitutions protecting the traditional definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman. In other words, a sort of 21st-century version of Roe v. Wade imposing the court’s views on all 50 states might be on the way. However, serious questions have been raised surrounding such a ruling: Would it be another example of federal judicial overreach? If so, what, if anything, can states do to resist?
As federal courts increasingly usurp broad powers never delegated to them or even the U.S. government in the U.S. Constitution, the movement to rein in at the state level what is being called “judicial tyranny” is growing fast. From popular pastors and grassroots citizen movements to lawmakers, judges, and presidential candidates, critics of the escalating assaults on state sovereignty from the federal bench say the time has come for state and local authorities to finally put their foot down and resist. Already, dozens of states have had homosexual “marriage” purportedly imposed on them by federal courts. Now, with the Supreme Court expected to deliver its decision on marriage this year, the pressure to resist is growing stronger than ever.
In more than a few states, legislators have responded to the wave of federal rulings purporting to redefine marriage with new efforts aimed at protecting marriage and the will of voters from the decrees of federal judges. In Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, for example, lawmakers have already introduced legislation that would prohibit state or local officials from issuing “marriage licenses” to homosexuals. State judges, too, are considering ways to protect their state constitutions and the will of citizens from federal judicial assault.
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