"For decades, activist judges have tried to redefine America by court order," Bush said Monday. "Just this last week in New Jersey, another activist court issued a ruling that raises doubt about the institution of marriage. We believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman, and should be defended."
- Bush hits hard at gay marriage
Right off the bat, Bush decides to leave intellectual honesty at the door.
First, the state of New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that everyone must be treated equally. How does any president who is sworn to uphold the constitution stand behind a podium and claim that it is their political platform to make one class of Americans inferior to others. It is not hard to understand the words "equal protection of the law." It is an easy concept... seriously... it just means if you give certain legal rights to one group of people, you have to afford that same rights to similar other groups. How is this not a fundamental principal that Bush is 100% behind.
HELD: Denying committed same-sex couples the financial and social benefits and privileges given to their married
heterosexual counterparts bears no substantial relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose. The Court holds
that under the equal protection guarantee of Article I, Paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, committed samesex
couples must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the
civil marriage statutes. The name to be given to the statutory scheme that provides full rights and benefits to samesex
couples, whether marriage or some other term, is a matter left to the democratic process.
Second, the State of New Jersey Supreme Court did not rule that homosexuals must be given the right to marry. The one and only thing they said was that homosexual couples must be afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples. That means they must be given the same rights to survivorship and state benefits. This can be done as a civil union or marriage. The Court left that decision up to the legislature to decide.
"I believe I should continue to appoint judges who strictly interpret the law and not legislate from the bench," the president said, earning more applause in the sweltering basketball arena at Georgia Southern University.
This ruling was anything but an activist decision. The court did exactly what the president wanted. They strictly interpreted the law. In fact, if the court ruled the opposite way, that same-sex couples do not deserve the same rights, that would be an activist court because the court is ignoring the law. You can't expect the court to ignore the law just because the thought of two men sleeping together gives you the willies.
Ironically, the religious people that Bush panders to on this issue are shooting themselves in the foot in the long run. For a government to legislate that marriage is between only a man and a women are infringing upon religious freedoms. They are encouraging the state to define religion and how you can practice your personal faith.
Bush can do nothing other than to play to the base fears of conservatives. He is being intellectually dishonest and in in no form or manner a leader upholding the Constitution of the United States.
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