The issues--and what's at stake--in the Supreme Court marriage cases.

High Stakes as the Supreme Court Prepares

to Rule on Same-Sex Marriage Cases

by Ryan T. Anderson

The government's real interest in wedded bliss tends to be obscured in the debate attending the Supreme Court's pending rulings in two marriage cases. Sorry to disappoint, but the state isn't interested in the love lives of citizens just for the sake of romance.
No, government has an interest in marriage because the act that unites a man and a woman creates new life. And this new life needs and deserves a mother and a father--because otherwise, the social costs run high.
At stake in the two cases expected to be decided by the Supreme Court later this month is whether citizens and their elected officials have the constitutional authority to make laws that reflect the truth about marriage.
One case concerns the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage for the purposes of federal law. Passed by overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress in 1996, DOMA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Congress passed DOMA to make explicitly clear what was known at the time of our country's founding--that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.
Some have argued that Congress lacks authority to make marriage policy for federal purposes and that it has to accept whatever definition of marriage the states come up with. For this reason, they conclude, the Supreme Court should strike DOMA down as unconstitutional.
But this gets our constitution and federalism wrong. Just as the states have constitutional authority to make state policy about marriage, so too Congress can pass a federal statute defining a term for federal programs created by federal law. Indeed, Congress has legislated legitimately on marriage more than 1,100 times. DOMA only made clear that Congress meant one man and one woman when it used the words "marriage" and "spouse."
Some try to argue, then, that what's really unconstitutional isn't Congress making this law, but anyone making a law that tells the truth about marriage. That's what's at the center of the other case before the high court, the one concerning California's Proposition 8.
Prop 8 is a state constitutional amendment approved by California voters in 2008 defining marriage for state purposes as the union of one man and one woman. This was the second time that Californians voted in support of marriage within a decade. They voted this second time after the California Supreme Court issued an activist decision redefining marriage -- even though state law provided for civil unions for same-sex couples that afforded the same rights and benefits as married couples. Apparently no compromise would be allowed if the lower courts that overturned Prop 8 have their way.

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