Opponents of Marriage Amendment File Suit to Remove It from the November Ballot, Silencing the Voters
ProtectMarriage.com has issued this press release that appears on the PRNewswire. It concludes:
“This is an act of desperation,” said Ron Prentice chairman of the ProtectMarriage.com coalition which is sponsoring the Marriage Amendment. “The voters deserve a chance to vote on this important issue, but our extremist opponents want to silence the voters. This will only energize public support for overturning the court’s decision.”
One Comment
Sandra Day O’Connor was right. Fundamental rights have no business being at the vote of a majority.
Your side has utterly failed to explain why the state should limit equal access to marriage, because there is no harm to society or marriage or the family to equal marriage rights / rites.
See Smith V Dept of Employment.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=494&page=872
Finally, the Court today suggests that the disfavoring of minority religions is an “unavoidable consequence” under our system of government and that accommodation of such religions must be left to the political process. Ante, at 890. In my view, however, the First Amendment was enacted precisely to protect the rights of those whose religious practices are not shared by the majority and may be viewed with hostility. The history of our free exercise doctrine amply demonstrates the harsh impact majoritarian rule has had on unpopular or emerging religious groups such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Amish. Indeed, the words of Justice Jackson in West Virginia State Bd. of Ed. v. Barnette (overruling Minersville School Dist. v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586 (1940)) are apt: [494 U.S. 872, 903]
“The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.” 319 U.S., at 638