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For some that are unfamiliar with SIL's not taking the Windsor decision in totality and his/her attempt to take snippets of
stare decisis out of context and try to convince him/her-self that it is dicta, let's review what the Windsor decision actually said...
Actually, there WAS a constitutional finding in Windsor about gay marriage.
Windsor was ONLY a decision regarding whether the Federal government could discriminate against legal Same-sex Civil Marriages (SSCM) entered into under state law. Windsor recognized as legal all State sanctioned SSCM's entered into whether the State recognized them do to judicial action, legislative action, or electoral action.
From the Majority Opinion:
"By seeking to displace this protection and treating those
persons as living in marriages less respected than others,
the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
This opinion and its holding are confined to those lawful
marriages.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit is affirmed.
It is so ordered."
And as the Chief Justice wrote:
"But while I disagree with the result to which the majority’s
analysis leads it in this case, I think it more important to point
out that its analysis leads no further. The Court does not have
before it, andvthe logic of its opinion does not decide, the
distinct question whether the States, in the exercise of their
“historic and essential authority to define the marital relation,”
ante, at 18, may continue to utilize the traditional definition
of marriage"
Windsor said that a state's broad consensus was the appropriate way to determine if gay marriage was legal or not and that that determination was the "unquestioned authority" of that respective state.
Now lets provide the context of the quote "unquestioned authority". Since that quote only appears in one place here it is:
"DOMA seeks to injure the very class New York seeks to
protect. By doing so it violates basic due process and
equal protection principles applicable to the Federal
Government. See U. S. Const., Amdt. 5; Bolling v. Sharpe
, 347 U. S. 497 (1954). The Constitution’s guarantee of
equality “must at the very least mean that a bare con-
gressional desire to harm a politically unpopular group
cannot” justify disparate treatment of that group.
Depart*ment of Agriculture v. Moreno, 413 U. S. 528,
534–535 (1973). In determining whether a law is
motived by an improper animus or purpose, “ ‘[d]iscriminations
of an unusual character’” especially require careful
consideration. Supra, at 19 (quoting Romer, supra,
at 633). DOMA cannot survive under these principles.
The responsibility of the States for the regulation of
domestic relations is an important indicator of the
substantial societal impact the State’s classifications
have in the daily lives and customs of its people. DOMA’s
unusual deviation from the usual tradition of recognizing
and accepting state definitions of marriage here operates
to deprive same-sex couples of the benefits and
responsibilities that come with the federal recognition
of their marriages. This is strong evidence of a law having
the purpose and effect of disapproval of that class.
The avowed purpose and practical effect of the law here
in question are to impose a disadvantage, a separate
status, and so a stigma upon all who enter into same-sex
marriages made lawful by the unquestioned authority
of the States.
Now anyone with common sense can read that out of context quote of "unquestioned authority" and understand that the SCOTUS is saying that States have the unquestioned authority to recognize SSCM and that if they do, that the Federal government does not have the authority to not equally recognize those SSCMs.
And they didn't stop there. They said in Windsor that that essential root power of the voters of each state stretched back to the founding of the country ...ready for this?.... "..in the way the Framers of the Constitution intended".
Ready for this? Here is the quote in context:
In acting first to recognize and then to allow same-sex
marriages, New York was responding “to the initiative of
those who [sought] a voice in shaping the destiny of their
own times.” Bond v. United States, 564 U. S. ___, ___ (2011)
(slip op., at 9). These actions were without doubt a proper
exercise of its sovereign authority within our federal system,
all in the way that the Framers of the Constitution intended.
The dynamics of state government in the federal system are
to allow the formation of consensus respecting the way the
members of a discrete community treat each other in their
daily contact and constant interaction with each other.
The States’ interest in defining and regulating the
marital relation, subject to constitutional guarantees,
stems from the understanding that marriage is more than
a routine classification for purposes of certain statutory
benefits. Private, consensual sexual intimacy between two
adult persons of the same sex may not be punished by the
State, and it can form “but one element in a personal bond
that is more enduring.” Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U. S. 558,
567 (2003). By its recognition of the validity of same-sex
marriages performed in other jurisdictions and then by
authorizing same-sex unions and same-sex marriages,
New York sought to give further protection and dignity to
that bond. For same-sex couples who wished to be married,
the State acted to give their lawful conduct a lawful
status. This status is a far-reaching legal acknowledgment
of the intimate relationship between two people, a
relationship deemed by the State worthy of dignity in the
community equal with all other marriages. It reflects both
the community’s considered perspective on the historical
roots of the institution of marriage and its evolving
understanding of the meaning of equality.
Read in context the court says that State don't have "unquestioned authority", that State actions are limited by "constitutional guarantees". And contrary to what some may claim that homosexuals don't have constitutional guarantees because of their actions, the above two quotes show that to be incorrect as they cite two SCOTUS decisions where the decision was based on the 14th Amendment in favor of protecting homosexuals.
That is a constitutional finding about gay marriage...
No it wasn't, it was a decision about if the States say "Yes" to SSCM can the Federal government say "No". Windsor said they couldn't. It didn't address whether States could discriminate against same-sex in the area of SSCM, that will take another case.
One that will arrive at the SCOTUS door step next term.
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