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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 20894
[Civil]
Date Posted:
7/12/2009
1:31:19 pm EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 2,733
RSS: 13,676
Comments: 5
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Mass. Files Lawsuit Against Federal Marriage Law
Author: Denise Lavoie, AP Source: Yahoo
Title: MASS. FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST FEDERAL MARRIAGE LAW
Massachusetts has challenged the federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, calling it "discriminatory and overreaching," and supporters say other states could follow suit.
The state, the first to legalize gay marriage, sued the U.S. government Wednesday over the Defense of Marriage Act. The law interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said. The 1996 law denies federal recognition of gay marriage and gives states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
Massachusetts is the first state to challenge the law.
Submitted by and Thanks to: Terry
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Community Thoughts: There are 5 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Tactically Perverse Legal Strategy? | Jul 13th. at 11:01:25 am EDT
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Terry (Irvington, Virginia) - Email Me
The Massachusetts AG suing the Feds to overturn DOMA is a major strategic step in the civil rights battles against equal rights violations, and RRR favoritism in laws. This case is inverted though, as it asserts a state's rights position to impose discriminatory policies in different forms, rather than a 1st, 4th, and 14th Amendment based minimum set of Constitutional standards for those state laws also subject to Full Faith and Credit interstate enforcement, and states rights (10th Amendment) local discretion only to the extent that's not in violation of the US Constitution.
I'm left unsure what to make of the strategic choices behind this litigation. It quite obviously chooses a laundry list of valid legal arguments to attack chinks in badly abusive present Federal law and agency policies. And, those policies and agency regulations need to be attacked, with many quirks of our legal system posing challenges as to how to structure an adequately comprehensive shotgun blast against wrongful discrimination in thousands of detailed niches of government. However, this style of "states rights" argument might be better have been placed prior to the 14th Amendment and Incorporation Doctrine (that extended the Bill of Rights inside states) . It raises red flags for one of Rehnquist's classic excuses to circumvent select parts of the US Constitution, when he wrote, "legislating morality IS the traditional jurisdiction of states." Wrong, Billy. "WAS" such, prior to 1868 and 14th Amendment ratification.
If government played by its own rules, this kind of high stakes legal parlor game wouldn't be needed in the first place. Instead of DOMA and many related forms of oppression, Congress, the Federal Courts, and US Attorney General would require that state contract laws, domestic relations or business based, all comply with, as a minimum, Equal Protections, Privileges and Immunities, Religious Neutrality, and Free Exercise, plus possibly Privacy, elements of our US Constitution. Those would also be subject to Full Faith and Credit enforcement, such that it's functionally necessary for states to have largely compatible legal process and no standards that conflict with core civil rights minimums. Massachusetts is not entitled to hands off from the Feds as parts of this suit assert, but they are entitled to the Feds not imposing policies that violate their own rules of law. They're also entitled to the Feds imposing the opposite of DOMA, a mandate that states recognize and enforce each others' valid contracts, including binary and poly domestic partnerships equitably with treatment of singles.
In terms of overall civil rights theory, that leaves many of the arguments Massachusetts has made misguided. In terms of the perverse realities of tactical litigation, that same list of strategic legal bullet points and treatment of them may well be just what's needed as the next interim step in taking out the trash from both Democrat and GOP Federal corruption, and discriminatory practices in the majority of other states.
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| Another Proud BayStater | Jul 13th. at 9:37:42 am EDT
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Medea (Somewhere, Massachusetts) - Email Me
I'm so glad Massachusetts hasn't stopped being on the forefront of cutting edge history.
Go Massachusetts!
We're always starting something..
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| The Shoe Is On The Other Head..... | Jul 13th. at 12:04:12 am EDT
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nasionnaich (Stanchfield, Minnesota) - Email Me
Here we have the State of Massachusetts exercising it's right to challenge the Federal Government, something every single "Conservative" political hack has been saying should happen in ALL states of the "Union".
Somehow, though, I doubt those "Conservative" political hacks will think Massachusetts has the right to challenge the Federal "Defense of Marriage" Act. Why do I think this? Because the Federal Act denies "homos" (that's the word the "Conservatives" and other bigots use...I say y'all should embrace it as your own, and use it with pride) the right to get married -- that's why.
--nasionnaich
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| YES!!! | Jul 12th. at 11:05:37 pm EDT
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Heather Lynn Fairfield (Canton, Massachusetts) - Email Me
Whatever the outcome of this ... there have been some memorable times when I can say that I'm DAMN proud I come from (and live in) Massachusetts.
This is one of them.
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| The Clothes Of The Emperor | Jul 12th. at 2:03:25 pm EDT
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R. Cicero (Seattle, Washington) - Email Me
We are nauseatingly familiar with the Bush era tactics, but check out this new school. Obama made endless repetitive overtures about what he would do in regards to an open government, the environment, health care reform, and expanding the rights of the LGBT community, etc. Well, transparency is a joke. They (the Obama administration) has already held secretive meetings with coal industry executives, but don't wish to divulge names. Sound familiar? Anyone up on environmental issues knows that 'clean coal' technology is the biggest joke of the new century. As for healthcare, Obama openly articulated that that true universal healthcare (a single-payer expansion of Medicare, for example) is off the table. Why? The Senate is constipated over it, while his chief-of-staff has started talking up a trigger plan, which amounts to moderate reform of healthcare only if our economy gets WORSE. That is a philosophy that's actually getting serious consideration, if you can believe that. As for the LGBT community, well, that's their war. Except, Obama made extensive overtures to them, and has done worse than nothing--he's actually regressive on their issues. He still talks one game, but his Justice department rubberstamped Bush policy on the defense of marriage act. And of course, Obama has seemingly zero interest in opening up the recent past in regards to allegations of torture and misconduct that everyone knows are true, and I mean sickeningly and obviously true. To make a long story short, this 'change agent' is no progressive at all, just another schmucky, corrupt man. Of course it could be worse, if that dingleberry McCain and his psycho sidekick had had their chance. But this is what we get, a horse of a very different color. Certainly not the one he rode in on.
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