Excuse me?
by Matt | December 8th, 2007 |Yahoo! News has a story on a Rhode Island gay couple married in Massachusetts but now seeking a divorce. They tried to get a divorce in their own home state but were told by the Rhode Island Supreme Court:
The court, in a 3-2 decision, said the state’s family court lacks the authority to grant the divorce of a same-sex couple because Rhode Island lawmakers have not defined marriage as anything other than a union between a man and a woman.
That doesn’t shock me. We all knew there would be unintended hang-ups when it came to marriage amendments and “Defense of Marriage” statutes.
What shocks me is what was said next:
“The role of the judicial branch is not to make policy, but simply to determine the legislative intent,” the court wrote.
Excuse me? I’m not getting it. If that was supposed to be a joke, it isn’t funny.
Since when did American courts only “determine the legislative intent” of matters brought before them? I was taught that we have three branches of government for a reason: so that each can act as a check and balance against the others. If one ventures into the twilight zone, the other can pull them back into reality.
We’ve seen it time and time again throughout American history. If not for the courts, America would be a much worse place to live, work, learn and grow. We’ve seen our Judicial Branch end so many wrongs and ills.
Even if you wanted to make the argument that in a case like Loving v. Virginia the Supreme Court was only “determining the legislative intent” and found that intent to be oppressive and discriminatory (and therefore unconstitutional), then why couldn’t the same be said in a case involving oppressive, discriminatory laws against LGBT people?
Oh… that’s right. The courts can’t do that now. If they do they’ll become “activist judges,” simply by doing their jobs.
I’m not schooled in law and I’m certainly not a scholar of law, so perhaps my view of what the Judicial Branch is supposed to be and do is somewhat elementary. Even so, I think my view is right. The Judicial Branch is there to save us when all else goes wrong. It should remain that way.
Technorati Tags: gay marriage, gay divorce, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, activist judges
One Response to “Excuse me?”
Republican terminology is having an effect in all areas of our lives. Judges, depending on how they get their seat (election, appointment, etc…) all fear that ‘activist judge’ label.
Its a label that will follow them for the rest of their career. Have you noticed that when judges make or modify laws in favor of Republican policies they are not called ‘activist judges’. Instead they get the more semantically positive label of ’strict constructionist’.
By JD on Dec 8, 2007