Re: [Marxism] Cal AG Brown asks court to overturn Proposition 8

[Shane Mage <shmage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Dec 21, 2008, at 3:16 PM, Ralph Johansen wrote:

> Shane Mage wrote:
> ....I still don't understand why no
> Californian with an out-of-state gay marriage has yet sued on the
> basis of the "full faith and credit" clause of the US Constitution....
>
> Shane Mage
> -----------------------------
>
> Just off the top, that appears to be a federal question, suing for
> enforcement of the federal full faith and credit clause of the US
> Constitution, and would go into the federal courts, ultimately to the
> Supreme Court as presently constituted.

The US Constitution as the supreme law of the land is also the supreme  
law of every state.  The California Supreme Court has every right to  
rule that Prop8 violates the legal obligation of California, as a  
state, to accept the supremacy of the US Constitution, and so to  
invalidate it insofar as it dishonors the legal acts of any other  
state--provided that someone with standing has brought suit on that  
basis.  The Federal Courts would come in only on appeal from the  
California decision.  If they even took the case "strict scrutiny"  
would favor denying the appeal against the California decision.  The  
present circumstances are scarcely propitious for the militant  
judicial activism required to invalidate the full faith and credit  
clause in regard to marriage, and Kennedy is not that militant an  
activist to start with.

Shane Mage

> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos

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