The California Supreme Court's ruling in Strauss v. Horton (PDF) today is an interesting read regardless of whether one agrees with the majority opinion, which allows Proposition 8 to amend our state's Constitution so that "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." The court explains why more than 500 amendments to the California Constitution have been adopted since 1879, whereas only 27 amendments to the United States Constitution have been adopted since 1788. In short, the federal Constitution is more Miss USA runner up proof than our state Constitution. The latter can be changed at the whim of a statewide, simple majority vote on a proposition added to the ballot by any special interest group that can collect enough voter signatures.
It's pretty easy to make changes to our state Constitution to do whatever we want, as long as it's allowed by our federal Constitution. That same ease of change should make for an exciting election year come 2010. Yet it's unfortunate that our state Constitution is being revised to promote a particular set of religious beliefs in the first place. A large majority of Prop 8 supporters who are bigoted because of their faith should appreciate the fact that the U.S. Constitution guarantees them the freedom to exercise their religions. Now the U.S. Supreme Court may get the opportunity to opine on whether or not withholding the privilege of marriage from same sex couples deprives them of equal protection under the laws of our great nation.
