Today’s Wall Street Journal (online version free today, October 27, 2006, only; I’m taking this from the print version) has an excellent editorial on New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruling that every benefit of marriage be extended to homosexual couples. Let’s take a look at the first paragraph:
This week’s New Jersey Supreme Court’s judicial diktat on same-sex-somethings (name to be determined later) is a remarkable arrogation of power by the judiciary. The court’s belief that it is empowered to embark on social experimentation in the field of marriage is embodied in the words — “We have decided that our State Constitution guarantees that every statutory right and benefit conferred to heterosexual couples through civil marriage must be made available to committed same-sex couples . . .” (our emphasis).
Note the phrase emphasized by the WSJ, “We have decided”. What, exactly, did the Lawgivers-In-Black decide? It decided that New Jersey’s legislature didn’t go nearly far enough in 2004 when it passed a law recognizing “domestic partnerships”. Indeed, it used the existance of that law to justify ordering the legislature to act as a further “great engine of social change”.
What else did the Lawgivers-In-Black decide? It decided that “or status as same-sex partners” be added to the interpretation of Article I, Paragraph 5 of the New Jersey Constitution, which reads, “No person shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil or military right, nor be discriminated against in the exercise of any civil or military right, nor be segregated in the militia or in the public schools, because of religious principles, race, color, ancestry or national origin.” Do note that they did NOT find a “fundamental right” to homosex “marriage” (though 3 of them did try to find just such a “right” in the “unenumerated rights” paragraph). Funny thing is, the phrases “same-sex” and “sexual orientation” (or similar language) do not appear anywhere in the New Jersey Constitution (or the United States Constitution for that matter). The other funny thing is that nowhere in that Constitution is the judiciary given a role in rewritting the Constitution.
If the Defense of Marriage Amendment fails on November 7, this ruling, or one demanding an outright mandate of “homosex marriage”, on an already-pending lawsuit to grant homosex couples “marriage” rights is in Wisconsin’s immediate future. Vote “YES” on the Defense of Marriage Amendment on November 7 (or earlier if you are voting absentee).
