The very first words of the constitution after the preamble are
All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a congress of the united states
Writing laws and repealing laws are legislative powers and yet federal judges are constantly declaring laws unconstitutional and repealing them and sometimes even writing a new law in its place!
The don't repeal laws.
Go back to high school take U.S. Government.
Dear
hazlnut
Yes, this is where politics makes a mess of things, doesn't it?
Just because the Supreme Court struck down the state laws against abortion, ruling those as unconstitutional.
this is NOT the same as legislatures passing laws on abortion.
So we still do not have agreement on abortion laws, over 30 years after courts struck down how the
previous laws were set up (that violated "substantive due process").
We have similar problems with whether to legalize or at least decriminalize drugs.
Striking down laws as unconstitutional is one thing, but passing laws is another.
The ban against gay marriage is another example.
Striking down state laws banning gay marriage as unconstitutional
is still a different step from "making it legal through the state."
It is still possible to have gay marriage included as equally legal as a religious activity through
private groups, and not have it endorsed through the state which ideally should remain neutral and
not impose on private matters by regulating, either way, whether the couple being married is of any particular relationship to each other, in order to have the civil contract binding under law.
What a mess. If we do not set up means to resolve conflicts in how policies are written BEFORE we pass laws, then this has been pushing the burden onto the judiciary. If we already know the two sides disagree religiously, then it makes sense to resolve those issues in advance instead of abusing govt to "take sides" for the people, KNOWING both sides are going to defend their creeds from imposition by the other side. Of course that is not going to solve the problem, but make it even worse and more hostile and pressured.