Rep. Broun is wrong on DOMA
Rep. Paul Broun, writing over at The Hill, is urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi to prevent legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act:
Today, I was extremely disappointed to see my liberal colleagues introduce legislation to repeal the bipartisan Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA was signed into law 13 years ago by a Democratic President because lawmakers began to see the assault on traditional marriage. Over a decade later, traditional marriage – a principle tenant in our Judeo-Christian values - is under assault more than ever before.Former US Rep. Bob Barr sponsored DOMA and has publicly stated that the legislation should be repealed on Tenth Amendment grounds:There have been consistent attempts by judges to overturn state law and thwart the will of the people. This judicial power grab, seen most recently in Iowa, will be even more detrimental if DOMA is repealed and this power grab is expanded for federal recognition.
I urge the Speaker not to bring any legislation to the floor that will repeal DOMA and instead consider my Marriage Protection Amendment so that the American people and their elected officials determine the law of the land – not activist liberal judges.
DOMA's language reflects one-way federalism: It protects only those states that don't want to accept a same-sex marriage granted by another state. Moreover, the heterosexual definition of marriage for purposes of federal laws -- including, immigration, Social Security survivor rights and veteran's benefits -- has become a de facto club used to limit, if not thwart, the ability of a state to choose to recognize same-sex unions.I like Rep. Broun, so I'm not picking on him here, but someone who uses the Constitution as a test to determine whether he will support legislation should see where the Defense of Marriage Act violates the Tenth Amendment.Even more so now than in 1996, I believe we need to reduce federal power over the lives of the citizenry and over the prerogatives of the states. It truly is time to get the federal government out of the marriage business. In law and policy, such decisions should be left to the people themselves.
It's an issue best dealt with by the states. Let them sort it out.
Comments
I will take this one even further. Why is the state even involve in marriages in the first place?
Why not just go back to Common Law on this one?
If the state just got our of the legal and moral issues of marriage and just reconized everybody as common law marriges many of these issue would just evaporate.
Leave it up to the church or whatever to decide whether or not sombody could get formally married there, not the state.
Just my thoughts on the matter.
Posted by: Michael | September 15, 2009 08:03 PM
Agreed. Rep Broun is wrong on this issue. The state (Federal or State government) has no business in marriage beyond the contractual aspects of the union. And like any contract, the state should only get involved if there is some disagreement between the parties and are brought into the situation by one of the primary interested parties... the state not being one of them.
Posted by: Daniel N Adams | September 15, 2009 08:37 PM