Thursday, November 20, 2008

There is a coup in progress

Keep an eye on this one:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California's highest court has agreed to hear legal challenges to a new ban on gay marriage, but is refusing to allow gay couples to resume marrying until it rules.

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted three lawsuits seeking to overturn Proposition 8. The amendment passed this month with 52 percent of the vote. The court did not elaborate on its decision.

All three cases claim the ban abridges the civil rights of a vulnerable minority group. They argue that voters alone did not have the authority to enact such a significant constitutional change

If the California Supreme Court overturns a constitutional amendment then the last pretense that the state of California is governed by anything other than a judicial dictatorship is out the window.

State's rights advocates do not like the idea of the federal courts involving themselves in the internal affairs of the states however if this degree of judicial usurpation is allowed to stand then democracy in all of America is dead, to be replaced by a black robed aristocracy.

Think this through carefully. Courts are supposed to apply the law and the supreme law in a state is the state constitution just as the supreme law in the USA as a whole is the federal constitution. Even when activist courts have legislated from the bench they have at least attempted to cloak their activism in constitutional language. For example the majority in Roe v Wade pretended to find a constitutional "right to privacy".

If the California court gets away with simply declaring a legally adopted amendment to the state constitution to be illegal then nothing will be off limits to an activist judiciary. If the people of California acting either through the referendum process or through their elected representatives ever attempt to limit the power of the judiciary then the judges can simply declare those limits null and void.

If the California court overturns a constitutional amendment there is literally nothing to stop them from overturning the portion of California law which requires them to stand for election, thus making themselves judicial dictators for life. If the California court gets away with this then what stops them, or any other state's Supreme Court from simply deciding to award that states electoral votes to the candidate they like rather than the one the people of the state voted for.

This is, after all, what almost happened in Florida in the 2000 election. The left-wing activist state Supreme Court didn't like the fact that more people in Florida voted for George W Bush than Al Gore so they tried to rewrite the state's election laws in the middle of the election in order to give the presidency to the candidate they preferred.

This is why this must be brought to the US Supreme Court if the California justices attempt to declare themselves sovereign monarchs. Otherwise kiss whatever is left of your freedom goodbye.