“I’ve said the [Supreme] Court has ruled and I said we’ll accept it.” These were the words of Ohio Gov. John Kasich at last Thursday’s GOP presidential debate concerning the recent Supreme Court decision on same-sex “marriage.” This statement is wrong in so many ways. The Supreme Court has no constitutional authority to create rights or, through the judicial process, enact law, or eviscerate the Tenth Amendment. That’s what it did in its recent ruling on homosexual unions. Do we just accept it? v (or do you, Gov. Kasich? Your reasoning last night implies you do). For the sake of children who need a mom and a dad and for the sake of the culture they will inhabit and later shape, conservatives do not accept Obergefell. The Supreme Court is a judicial body – it calls balls and strikes according to its rule book, the Constitution. At least that’s what the “rule book” that constitutes the Court itself says. Those who sit on the highest bench are not a despotism of nine. Gov. Kasich’s desire to get social contention behind us shows either a profound ignorance of the cultural, religious, and political nexus located in the same-sex marriage/gay “rights” battle or a sweet but naive interest in ameliorating a conflict that is hardly over. And his view of the Court’s role is, if taken at face value, not just troubling but dangerous for the continuance of constitutional government.
