For instance, a Supreme Court ruling in 1967 struck down
bans on interracial marriage, however at the time there were only 16 states
that still had laws against it, and it was 13 years after segregation had been
ruled unconstitutional. When the Court ruled in 1973 on a woman’s right to an
abortion, it triggered the “right to life” movement. More recently in 2003, Justice Anthony M.
Kennedy stuck down a Texas law making gay sex illegal in his majority opinion
regarding Lawrence v. Texas. This ruling was cited a few months later in Massachusetts
in support of same sex marriage.
Currently, nine states have given same sex marriage legal
status as of the last election; Maine, Maryland and Washington being the most
recent. Most states (41) still do not
recognize same sex marriage. When the Supreme Court looks at this issue or any constitutionality
issue, there can be an impact on public reaction. The question for the Supreme
Court is do they rule on the question now while public opinion is in favor or
do they wait for more the states to catch up with their own legislation.
Usually my opinion would be that it seems like the Supreme
Court is ruling on issues that should not be an issue. This is a “bedroom”
issue that I don’t feel is the Supreme Court’s (or any other court’s) business; however, it does spill over into
rights to access services such health insurance and the ability to invest
together without having to go through extreme legal maneuvering.
The Justices will no doubt be making a ruling that could
very well be overturned sometime in the future but just as their 1896 “separate
but equal” facilities was deemed constitutional for its time; it was still
overturned in a 1954 decision. This too will reflect our current trends as do
most of their decisions.
In my classmate, Andrea Hrejsa’s post “The Court Blog”, she talks about the extremely controversial topic of same sex marriage. With only 9 states recognizing same sex marriage, legally they are the minority. This being one of the most heated topics lately leads to many people taking a stance for or against. Now “public opinion is in favor” of making it legal but the states are far behind in their legislation.
ReplyDeleteMy personal opinion on this matter is kind of torn. I think that if people want to marry someone of the same sex, who am I to tell them differently? However, it does make me uncomfortable. More and more same sex couples are on TV and rainbows are being plastered everywhere to show support of the issue. I think if that is what you want to do with your life, fine; but leave it out of mine.
A lot of people think that this is a “bedroom issue” and the government should stay out of it and I agree to an extent. In general I think the less government intervention the better. However, if the government doesn’t take an official stance on the matter; the different laws in different states make the legal process a nightmare.
We will just have to wait and see what the Supreme Court decides. With growing support for same sex marriage the pressure for a decision is rising. This verdict could join the ranks of controversial rulings like Roe vs. Wade, Brown vs. Board of Education, ect.