March 30, 2006

What happens in MA stays in MA

Those judicial activists are at it again. In a six to one vote, the Massachusetts Supreme Judical Court has upheld a 1913 law banning marriages to out-of-staters if the marriage would not be legal in their home state. Sullivan argues that this should end all pushes for constitutional amendments, state or Federal, since with this ruling Massachusetts has essentially saved them the trouble. But he ignores those in my situation: I'm legally married in Massachusetts but may or already have moved to another state. How is it just in this "e pluribus unum" nation that for so fundamental a piece of my identity I can have a different legal status depending in which state I reside. Are marriage laws simply like any other statute - those defining criminal offenses or zoning requirements, for examples - or are they intended to protect "the bedrock of society"?

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