dcnovice
Posts: 37282
Joined: 8/2/2006 Status: offline
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quote:
There is no Constitutional guarantee that anyone gay or straight can enter into marriage. Period. Two thoughts: (a) The Supreme Court took a different view in its unanimous ruling in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down laws against interracial marriage: Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival. Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535, 541 (1942). See also Maynard v. Hill, 125 U.S. 190 (1888). To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discriminations. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State. (b) Wouldn't the Ninth Amendment--The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.--also cover marriage?
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No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up. JANE WAGNER, THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
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