Musical Monday - With Pride by Sarah Donner

With the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, marriage equality is now the law in the United States. Despite various states trying to throw obstacles in the way of this ruling, the simple truth is that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution makes such efforts pointless. Federal law trumps state law, and the Fourteenth Amendment which forms the basis for the Court's opinion is Federal law.

The most amazing element of the decision was not actually the decision itself. No, the most amazing thing about Obergefell v. Hodges is how incoherent and silly the arguments contained in the various dissents were. Roberts was reduced to talking about the marriage practices of Bushmen, Aztec, and Carthaginians. Not only were his statements about their practices of dubious accuracy, the last time I checked, none of those cultures had anything to do with U.S. Constitutional law. Thomas found himself trying to argue that neither legally sanctioned slavery or race-based internment camps affected the dignity of those subjected to such abuses. Scalia wound up complaining that overturning laws based upon Constitutional analysis - something that Federal courts have been doing since the Marshall court - amounted to a judicial putsch. Not only did the conservative wing of the Supreme Court lose, they sounded stupid while doing so.

For those hoping to avoid the effects of this ruling, the sad news for them is that it won't be going away. Once there are marriages all across the country, it will be next to impossible to get a court to overturn this ruling. No state laws can overturn it. No amount of shenanigans involving stopping granting all marriage licenses or limiting performing marriage ceremonies only to clergy will prevent same-sex marriages from happening. Congress can't pass a law to outlaw same-sex marriage because the Court's ruling is based upon the Constitution, and Congress can't override the Constitution. The only real option would be to put in place a Constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage, but to be brutally honest, there simply are not sufficient votes to get one passed. Same-sex marriage is here to stay.

While I'm not gay, and am unlikely to ever benefit from this ruling, many of my friends are, and I know how much this means to them. So for that, here is Sarah Donner singing With Pride

Previous Musical Monday: Caoineadh Cu Chulainn by Davy Spillane

Subsequent Musical Monday: Daylight Again by Crosby, Stills, and Nash

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