Tony Perkins Washington Update
It took a brave southern judge but the Lefts perfect record on same-sex marriage rulings finally snapped. Earlier today Judge Martin Feldman broke a string of 20-plus activist decisions and yielded to the democratic process on Louisianas marriage amendment. After more than a year of constitutional contempt Judge Feldman restored some semblance of credibility -- and sanity -- to a federal bench that had been rewriting marriage law since the Supreme Courts Windsor decision.
Refusing to cave to the small -- but vocal chorus -- of liberals
Feldman said he was reluctant to throw away centuries of natural social science and legal tradition to satiate a radical fringe. This Court is persuaded that Louisiana has a legitimate interest... whether obsolete in the opinion of some or not in the opinion of others he wrote in linking children to an intact family formed by their two biological parents.
Relying on research -- not the Lefts misshapen idea of rights -- the Reagan appointee was blunt about the danger of chasing the political and cultural winds. Public attitude might be becoming more diverse but any right to same-sex marriage is not yet so entrenched as to be fundamental he said plainly.
Unlike so many of his peers Feldman rightly recognized that the courts have no authority to unilaterally change the definition of our most fundamental social institution. While the courts stampede voters rights to force their agenda Feldman defended government by the people for the people. The state of Louisiana has a legitimate interest under a rational basis standard of review for addressing the meaning of marriage through the democratic process.
We applaud him -- as well as state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell and special counsel Kyle Duncan and Mike Johnson for standing up for the rule of law. They may be in the minority in the courts -- but theyre in the majority where it counts: public opinion.
