Leave Same-Sex Marriage Out of the Constitution
Posted at 11 a.m. on Feb. 27
The Supreme Court will soon face major questions on same-sex marriage, including whether the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 are constitutional. Reihan Salam explains why some people may favor throwing out the former, while allowing the latter to stand.
“One reason this might be true is that one can believe that state governments ought to…legally recognize same-sex civil marriages, and perhaps that Congress should do the same, yet not support the idea that the U.S. Constitution essentially mandates that same-sex civil marriage should be the law of the land.”
“My gut…is that same-sex marriage proponents ought to pursue a state-by-state approach to work towards a durable consensus rather than pursue the constitutional route. Overturning Proposition 8 at the ballot box was an option very much in reach.”
