An essay about the type of democracy in the U.S.

Part 1: Two conflicting views about what type
of democracy exists in the United States, and
how this influences same-sex marriage bans.

Conflicting quotations concerning same-sex marriage in Kentucky:

• Kentucky Federal District Court Judge John G. Heyburn II, ruling in Love v. Beshear:

"In America, even sincere and long-held religious beliefs do not trump the constitutional rights of those who happen to have been out-voted." ₁

• "cchretien" at the National Organization for Marriage:

[Judge] Heyburn's ruling is a dangerous example of judicial activism gone wild in the United States.  Renegade judge after renegade judge has worked to throw out the votes of the American people who have voted to protect marriage.  Heyburn's blatant disregard for the will of Kentucky voters and lack of understanding of the intrinsic nature of marriage and what sets it apart from other unions is alarming. ₂

• Law professors A.E. Dick Howard and Daniel R. Ortiz of the University of Virginia, and Carl W. Tobias from the University of Richmond, from their brief filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Bostic v. Rainey concerning same-sex marriage in Virginia:

"Public officials who swear to defend both [the federal and state] constitutions owe their first loyalty to the Constitution of the United States. An Attorney General is not an automaton who must blindly support Virginia law, especially when he concludes that it conflicts with the [U.S.] Constitution as the Supreme Law. ₃

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Two opposing opinions about the type of Democracy that exists in the U.S.:

Areas of agreement: There is a consensus in America among both conservative and liberal legal experts that individual states have the responsibility to define who can marry within their borders. The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, states:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." ₄

Marriage is not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. Thus the federal government cannot define which couples are eligible to marry and which couples cannot marry. As a result of the 10th Amendment, eligibility to marry is left to each state to define in their legal statutes and/or state constitution.

Areas of disagreement: There is a major conflict over whether there are any limits on how freely the states can exercise this power. The two options are:

• The United States is a Pure Democracy where the people hold the ultimate power. That is, people elect members for their state legislature to pass marriage laws. Also, voters can pass amendments to the state constitution. Both the state laws and constitution define who can marry. They can be worded in any way that they wish, without restrictions.
  
  or
  
  
• The United States is a Constitutional Democracy where the federal Constitution holds the ultimate power. Each state's definition of marriage is then required to avoid violating the federal Constitution.

Consider the two opinions:

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Opinion 1: The U.S. is a pure democracy and the people's opinions rule:

Many social and religious conservatives believe that the United States is a "pure democracy". That is, the highest law of the land is the opinion of the state legislators and the public. This means that state legislatures are free to pass any law to define who can marry, and voters can amend the state Constitution in any way that they wish, even if their definition of marriage violates the U.S. Constitution.

Expressions of this belief are:

• During the 2014-MAR testimony of state attorney Kristin Heyse in the case DeBoer v. Snyder in Michigan's federal District Court, she defended the 2004 amendment to the state Constitution that banned all recognition of same-sex relationships. Her reason was because the amendment represented the "people's definition of marriage:"

"This case is ... about the state’s definition of marriage. The people’s definition of marriage that encouraged kids ... [to be] raised by moms and dads was not irrational. ... Moms and dads are important. ... Mothers and fathers are not indispensable. Kids benefit by having both." ₅

• Also in 2014, Tennessee Christian News™ stated on their web site:

  "... U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II struck down Kentucky’s ban against recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. He ruled it violates [the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th amendment of] the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. ..."

  " Violation of the Constitution? Where in the Constitution does it say that the federal government has the power to ram gay marriage down our throats when many states have banned such a thing? There is [no] such ... thing: the 10th Amendment [states]:" ₆

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

• Tony Perkins is president of the Family Research Council. It is a conservative Christian para-church organization, which has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-gay hate group. ₇ Perkins commented on the same lawsuit in Kentucky, saying:

  "This ruling is another example of the deep betrayal of a judicial system infected with activist judges who are legislating from the bench.  If these judges want to change duly enacted laws passed by the people and their representatives, they should resign their life-time appointments to the bench and run for the state legislature or Congress.  Judge Heyburn is elevating his own ideology over that of three-quarters  of Kentucky voters who voted to preserve marriage in their constitution as it has always been defined." ₈

• Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage -- an organization who is dedicated to banning same-sex marriages everywhere in the U.S. -- also commented in the Kentucky lawsuit. He wrote:

  "... yet another federal judge has entered the competition for lawlessness on the marriage front. ... Today's decision emphasizes the need for Congressional action to prevent our states' marriage laws from spiraling further into chaos. Congress needs to explicitly reinforce the sovereign right of the states to make their own determinations regarding marriage, and to have those determinations respected by the federal government..." ₉

Three of the above four quotations refer to the same marriage case in a Kentucky District Court. Similar comments have been made since mid-2013 whenever federal courts overturned state constitutional amendments or state statutes that ban same-sex marriage, as in Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Virginia, etc.

This topic continues in another essay

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Judge John G. Heyburn II, "Memorandum Opinion and Order," Federal District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, 2014-JUL-01, at: http://www.scribd.com/
2. "cchretien," "Activist Judge Attempts to Redefine Marriage in Kentucky," National Organization for Marriage, 2014-JUL-03, at: http://www.nomblog.com/
3. Peter Dujardin, "Law professors bolster Herring's same-sex marriage stance," Daily Press, 2014-APR-18, at: http://articles.dailypress.com/
4. Linda Monk, "Amendment X: Rights reserved to states or people," National Constitution Center, undated, at: http://constitutioncenter.org/
5. The web site from which this quotation originated is no longer on line.
6. "Gay advocates want activist judges to strike down Tennessee’s constitutional ban on gay marriage," Tennessee Christian News, 2014-FEB-12, at: http://tnchristiannews.wordpress.com/
7. David Demirbilek, "Southern Poverty Law Center repeats 'hate group' claim about Family Research Council," Daily Caller, 2012-SEP-13, at: http://dailycaller.com/
8. "Kentucky Marriage Ruling Shows Disregard for Rule of Law," Family Research Council, 2014-FEB-12, at: http://www.frc.org/
9. Brian Brown, "National Organization for Marriage Condemns the Decision by a Federal Court to Strike Down a Component of Kentucky's Laws Regulating Marriage," National Organization for Marriage, 2014-FEB-12, at: http://www.nomblog.com/
10. Ben Winslow, "Utah AG will defend same-sex marriage ban, even if U.S. AG says don’t," Fox 13 News, Salt Lake City, 2014-FEB-25, at: http://fox13now.com/
11. "Defining marriage: State Defense of Marriage Laws and same-sex marriage, National Conference of State Legislatures, 2014-MAR-16, at: http://www.ncsl.org/
12. "CRS Annotated Constitution: Fourteenth Amendment,,," Legal Information Center, at: http://www.law.cornell.edu/
13. "Supremacy Clause," Wikipedia, as on 2014-DEC-01, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/

Copyright © 2014 & 2015 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance 
Originally written: 2014-MAY-08
Latest update: 2015-FEB-04
Author: B.A. Robinson

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