- Idaho and Nevada's state bans on same-sex marriage were ruled unconstitutional by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It also ruled that laws that discriminated based off of sexual orientation were unconstitutional.
- Almost "two-thirds of same-sex couples in the United States will soon live in states where they can marry".
- Stephen Reinhardt, a judge on the court, stated that the two states' marriage laws imposed "profound legal, financial, social, and psychic burns on numerous citizens of those states".
Connection to Questions:
- The branch that has the most power in this situation is clearly the Judicial branch, who repealed the bans and stated that they were unconstitutional, which is one of the checks that the Judicial branch possesses.
My Opinion on the Matter:
- Personally, I think this is fantastic. The tides are turning in the fight for gay marriage, and more and more people are of the opinion that people should be able to love who ever they want. This is a huge step going forward for gay rights, because something has to be done at some point, right?
- Link to Source
I agree that this is a good step in the right direction, however how many states still have laws against gay marriage? Also if Nevada's gay marriage laws were struck down, does that mean any other state with similar laws will have them struck down as well?
ReplyDeleteAbout a month or two ago, a similar situation occurred in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Same as here, the ban on gay marriage was considered unconstitutional.
ReplyDeleteThis article you've provided and discussed proves that, even though states don't have to follow the national government and even though each branch has checks on each other, there's still one big "branch of government" with power over all the others: the Constitution.