Judge rules COPA unconstitutional

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Amen! Constitutional Amendments are a LAST resort.

And they should never, ever try to remove a previously accepted Right. The first ten Amendments, the Bill of Rights, list many guaranteed protected Rights, and the Ninth makes it clear that the list is not to be considered all-inclusive.

Only once in American history was an Amendment ratified that removed a Right. Only once in American history was an Amendment repealed the only way that an Amendment can be (short of holding a Constitutional Convention to completely scrap the existing Constitution and start over from scratch), namely, by another Amendment. Surprise, surprise: it’s the same Amendment (Alcohol Prohibition)! Coincidence? I think not.

Amending the Consitution was deliberately made very difficult. It should only be done as a last resort, when all else has failed to achieve a noble goal (such as acknowledging the right of women to vote, abolishing slavery, etc.).

Once something becomes part of the Constitution, it’s very difficult to remove (as I said before, only another Amendment, or scrapping the whole thing and starting over from scratch, can do it). And, especially when a right is removed, for whatever reason, there is the likelihood of the Law of Unintended Consequences. The Temperence Society and other proponents of Prohibition never planned on organized crime and Al Capone etc. gaining power as a result, but it happened anyway.

More recently, there’s what happened in Texas last year, when voters passed their Defense of Marriage Amendment. This Amendment has two clauses: Clause A defines marriage in Texas as being between one man and one woman. So far, so good (at least from the PoV of right-wing fundie bigots).

But, Clause B says that neither the State of Texas, nor any politicial subdivision thereof (County, City, Township, etc.) shall recognize any relationship similar to or identical to marriage. Note that it didn’t say any other relationship!

By definition, anything is always identical to itself!

That means that marriage, as defined in Clause A, between one man and one woman, is now unconstitutional anywhere in the State of Texas! Ooopsie! Depending on how one defines “similar to,” it can even be argued that other arrangements such as same-sex marriage and polygamy are the only types of marriage allowed in Texas — the exact opposite of the intent! And yet, judges are required to interpret the State Constitution based on its actual wording — the letter of the law!

Posted by: Joel R   Posted on: 03/29/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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