Louisiana District Court Judge William Morvant, took it upon himself to overturn a voter-approved constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on Tuesday, October 05, 2004.
This should a serve as a warning like no other to all Americans that their Democracy “of the people, for the people” is fast becoming a Democracy by the courts for the courts. It was bad enough when courts overturned the acts of legislators on grounds having more to do with the judge’s ideology than jurisprudence. Now they have gone so far as to overturn a constitutional amendment passed by 78% of the electorate who bothered to take part in the process.
The reasons for the judge’s actions notwithstanding, the court should not have had jurisdiction to rule on a constitutional amendment. The sole reason for the amendment was to protect Louisiana’s existing laws banning such unions. These laws are not in the State’s constitution rather are the result of legislative actions and prior judicial rulings. Supporters of the amendment correctly believed that it was in their best interest to put this matter to a vote of the people in the form of an amendment to the Louisiana constitution to avoid the possibility of a judge following the path laid out by those in Massachusetts. Unfortunately the courts have proven that they view themselves as being above any and all laws.
This should a serve as a warning like no other to all Americans that their Democracy “of the people, for the people” is fast becoming a Democracy by the courts for the courts. It was bad enough when courts overturned the acts of legislators on grounds having more to do with the judge’s ideology than jurisprudence. Now they have gone so far as to overturn a constitutional amendment passed by 78% of the electorate who bothered to take part in the process.
The reasons for the judge’s actions notwithstanding, the court should not have had jurisdiction to rule on a constitutional amendment. The sole reason for the amendment was to protect Louisiana’s existing laws banning such unions. These laws are not in the State’s constitution rather are the result of legislative actions and prior judicial rulings. Supporters of the amendment correctly believed that it was in their best interest to put this matter to a vote of the people in the form of an amendment to the Louisiana constitution to avoid the possibility of a judge following the path laid out by those in Massachusetts. Unfortunately the courts have proven that they view themselves as being above any and all laws.
For this democracy to survive we have to reign in the power of the judiciary. We have allowed the courts to assume powers never imagined by this nation’s Founders and unless and until we establish reasonable boundaries for judicial review no vote of the people or acts of duly elected legislators will be worth the paper upon which they are printed. This is the beginning of the death of our Democracy.
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