Yet another court has advanced the notion that there isn’t really a separation of powers, but that the judiciary can unilaterally order the other branches to do whatever they darn well please.
The New Jersey Supreme Court, aping its liberal sister court in Massachusetts, has denied reality and ruled that the law of gravity is unconstitutional. No, wait that’s not right. Oh yes, they’ve done something equally incomprehensible and ruled that homosexuals and lesbians must be allowed to marry. They’ve given the state Legislature six months to change the law. Why? After all, if the court can unilaterally change the definition of marriage, doesn’t the force of its pronouncement create new laws ex nihilo?
But democracy is not completely lost, as Diogenes points out. Even while the court said there is “no substantial relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose” in keeping marriage what it is, namely a legal bond between a man and a woman, it did concede: “The name to be given to the statutory scheme that provides full rights and benefits to same-sex couples whether marriage or some other term, is a matter left to the democratic process.”
In other words, they don’t care what you call it, just put it into effect. And while the voters have no say in the substance of the matter, they can—through their elected representatives—decide on the name. How generous!
Technorati Tags:courts, law, New Jersey, same-sex marriage, Supreme Court
