The Corner  The one and only.  More Than Marriage Is at Stake
Now   After today’s rulings by the Supreme Court, every American
has a larger stake in the outcome of the marriage debate. No one
can afford to stay out of this issue because these decisions
today constitute a huge threat to our democratic process.  The
Proposition 8 ruling is the most disturbing. Though the Court
chose not to rule on the merits, it did establish a terrible
precedent, ruling that citizens who pass an initiative do not
have the legal right or standing to defend that law when elected
officials refuse to do their job and defend the duly enacted law
in court.  This amounts to a pocket veto which politicians will
abuse in the future, and not just on marriage. Within hours of
the ruling, Governor Jerry Brown of California announced that
California clerks would be forced to issue same-sex couples
marriage licenses within 30 days, even though Prop 8 remains the
law in California. The ruling invites abuse and will inevitably
result in furth