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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Some Housekeeping: Proposition 8, Etc.

Two of the most interesting columns I've read in the aftermath of the US District Court overturning California's Proposition 8, plus a quick note on immigration reform and two more interesting things to read.

This is not the promised next blog post on immigration reform, to which some readers have kindly said their are eagerly looking forward, after the last one. There's a little note on the subject here, but it's really just housekeeping.

Proposition 8

In the meantime other readers have been asking me whether I'm going to blog on California's Proposition 8, in which that state's voters amended their state constitution to define marriage as involving a man and a woman. A federal district judge recently declared it unconstitutional -- a violation of the US Constitution, that is -- and it's hard to imagine the next stop, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, bringing a different outcome.

So the question ultimately is, what will the US Supreme Court eventually think? I'm not sure  --which is already an improvement over the Ninth Circuit. The Supreme Court is the most conservative branch of the US government at the moment, which means there's hope, but I see nothing resembling certainty. The eventual outcome will depend in part on who's on the Court at the time, and it could be quite a while. But even if the faces don't change, it ain't over until it's over -- if even then.

While we watch and wait, here are two of the more interesting columns I've read on the subject. Matthew Franck analyzes the district court's decision and finds its logic . . . wanting. And David Harsanyi wonders if it isn't time to do away with government's role in marriage altogether; I'm not convinced yet, but it's an interesting argument.

A Moment for Immigration

 A couple of months ago, I blogged about anchor babies and the Fourteenth Amendment, suggesting that its language may not unambiguously embrace the children of illegal immigrants. The Washington Post's Michael Gerson doesn't think that's what the language means -- but at least he notices the language and discusses it. Meanwhile, the Post's Edward Schumacher-Matos describes increasing efforts to enforce our southern border.

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