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Equalitywithfinality
TheWashingtonPost[Washington,D.C]09Nov2014:A.20.

Abstract(summary)
Overthelastyear,themajorityoffederalcourtsacrossthecountrythathaveconsideredstatesamesexmarriagebanshaveoverturnedthem.

FullText
ONTHURSDAY,afederalappealscourtrejectedargumentsthattheConstitutionrequiresstatestoperformoreventorecognizesamesexmarriages.The
appealscourtwaswrong,andnowthatthematterappearsdestinedtoarriveattheSupremeCourt,thejusticesshouldendanydoubtaboutthat.
Thursday'srulingfromtheU.S.CourtofAppealsforthe6thCircuitrepeatedlyarguedthatjudgesandlawyersshouldnotdrivethenationalmovetoward
samesexmarriage.Thereisgoodprinciplebehindthatposition.Settlementsthatemergefromdemocraticprocessesaremorelikelytobeacceptedas
legitimate,moreresistanttocriticismandlessofarallyingpointforculturewarriors.Judgesshouldgenerallywieldtheirpowerswithrestraint.
Butthatprincipledoesn'tapplywhentherightsofaminorityarebeingdeniedbymajoritywill.Ifthequestionwereputtoavotenow,samesexmarriage
wouldprobablyprevailinalargenumberofstates.Publicopinionhasshiftedwithamazingspeedoverthepastdecade.Butinanumberofstates,people
wouldlikelystillvoteno.Andifyoubelieve,aswedo,thatthegovernmentcan'tpickandchoosewhichcouplesshouldbeallowedtomarry,thenthe
SupremeCourtcan'tdefertothatpopularwill.TheConstitutionempowersandinstructsthecourtstoprotecttherightsofminoritiesincasessuchasthese.
Asifbasicfairnessweren'tenough,thereisanotherreasontheSupremeCourtshouldnotfollowthe6thCircuit'sreasoning:Thejusticeshavealreadylet
thecatoutofthebag.Overthelastyear,themajorityoffederalcourtsacrossthecountrythathaveconsideredstatesamesexmarriagebanshave
overturnedthem.Ratherthanhearingchallengestoseveralofthoserulings,thejusticeslastmonthdecidedtoletthemstand,eliminatingthestaysthat
hadkepttherulingsfromgoingintoeffectandallowingsamesexmarriagestoproceedinthestatesinquestion.Tobacktracknowandallowthosestates
toreinstatetheirbansonsamesexmarriagewouldbemessy,confusingandhardlyfairtothosecoupleswhowouldhavetofigureoutiftheyarestill
married,tothosewhodidn'tgetinjustunderthewireortothosewhowouldbeconsideredmarriedinsomepartsofthecountryandnotinothers.
Themoralandpracticalsidesoftheargumentnowbothfavorsamesexmarriageadvocates.TheSupremeCourtshouldsayso.
Credit:EditorialBoard
(CopyrightTheWashingtonPostCompany,Nov9,2014)

Indexing(details)
Subject

Cite
Samesexmarriage
Federalcourtdecisions
Gays&lesbians
Litigation

Title

Equalitywithfinality

Publicationtitle

The WashingtonPost

Pages

A.20

Publicationyear

2014

Publicationdate

Nov9,2014

Year

2014

Section

EDITORIALOPINION

Publisher

WPCompanyLLCd/b/aTheWashingtonPost

Placeofpublication

Washington,D.C.

Countryofpublication

UnitedStates

Publicationsubject

GeneralInterestPeriodicalsUnitedStates

ISSN

01908286

http://search.proquest.com/docview/1621859548/4284125D0D154315PQ/12?accountid=44751

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11/12/2014

Equality with finality - ProQuest

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Newspapers

Languageofpublication

English

Documenttype

Editorial

ProQuestdocumentID

1621859548

DocumentURL

http://search.proquest.com/docview/1621859548?accountid=44751

Copyright

(CopyrightTheWashingtonPostCompany,Nov9,2014)

Lastupdated

20141109

Database

NationalNewspapersCore

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