On Marriage Equality It’s The Constitution vs. Roy Moore and The KKK

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During the past couple of years, America has come to accept marriage equality. While some states fought against progress in the courts, most accept that in our system of federalism, states are required to comply with Federal court rulings and that states do not have the right to violate the U.S. Constitution.

When a higher court struck down their bans on same sex marriage, opponents of marriage equality exercised their right to take the matter to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court is considering their claims and is expected to rule later this year. In America, under our constitution, the Supreme Court has the final say in a legal dispute and it has the final say on the meaning of our constitution.

On Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told Bloomberg News she believes that Americans are ready to accept marriage equality.

The change in people’s attitudes on that issue has been enormous,” Ginsburg said. “In recent years, people have said, ‘This is the way I am.’ And others looked around, and we discovered it’s our next-door neighbor — we’re very fond of them. Or it’s our child’s best friend, or even our child. I think that as more and more people came out and said that ‘this is who I am,’ the rest of us recognized that they are one of us.

The reasons for and against are the same as they were in the case of Loving v. Virginia. It’s only the century and the form of inequality that differ.

Of course, there are some people who claim to be “real” Americans, including the Chief Justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court, Roy Moore, who refuse to accept that they are as wrong on the law about same sex marriage as their forbearers were wrong about inter-racial marriage.

After the Supreme Court of the United States refused to stay a Federal injunction to allow marriage equality in Alabama, Moore pulled the judicial version of a George Wallace. He ordered judges to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples in direct defiance with the Federal Court ruling. Of course, Moore is all about defying higher court rulings because in his mind, laws are superseded by his God and that gives him the right to disobey Federal court rulings he doesn’t like.

The last time Moore was removed as Chief Justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court by a panel of judges because he disobeyed a Federal Court order to remove the 10 commandments from the court rotunda. Moore pulled a comeback and, once again, was elected Alabama’s Chief Justice in 2012.

Now he’s trying to pull a George Wallace on marriage equality based on the same “logic” that got him removed before.

But alas, he has allies: the neo-confederates who celebrate Lincoln’s assassination and the Ku Klux Klan are on his side.

The United Dixie White Knights showed their support for Moore on their website, stating in part:

Alabama has a Constitutional amendment, that clearly says marriage is defined as being between a man and a woman.

But much as they have since the 2^nd war of independence was lost in 1865, the Federal Government by way of it’s (sic) foreign masters seems set to push this abomination, on the God fearing people of Alabama.”

They went on to call upon white supremacists to protest against “tyrannical” Federal Judges and called on white supremacists to join in their “Christian” protest.

Ironically, those who scream the loudest of their love for America and their belief in the U.S. constitution are the first to yell “tyranny” when the constitution prevails over their hate-filled ideology.

Gee, and the Republicans who count these people among their allies wonder how on earth did we get the idea that Republicans are pushing a hate filled agenda.

The thing is as the Chief Justice of Alabama, Roy Moore has the obligation to uphold the supreme law of the land, which is the U.S. constitution. That is regardless of whether he personally agrees with the laws and regardless of whether they conform to his political beliefs.

The last time Moore put his ideology above his responsibilities as Chief Justice in Alabama, it cost him his job. He never should have been re-elected as Chief Justice given his habit of putting his hate filled ideology above the law. It’s time for him to go and never come back.

Image: al.com