Sarasota News Leader

04/12/2013

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Sarasota News Leader April 12, 2013 OPINION for an argument before the Supreme Court, but the cement between them should be in keeping with the laws being challenged. Using this approach, I have developed the following points. One can call this straight-line logic in a curvilinear world — taking a simple point and then extending it as far as one can while still remaining in context. Page 62 If men are to only marry women, and women are to only marry men, one must define exactly what a man is and what a women is and how one is to tell them apart in order for the law to be enforced effectively. The laws under review and any law crafted in the future on this subject must be workable. To that end one must create a workable set of One could also call it wordsmithing, but definitions. then, when one is defining things before the Supreme Court, that is what one does if one The framework for those definitions as outlined below is not meant to be disrespectful to wishes to win. the court or to any party attempting to resolve DEFINITIONAL ASPECTS OF PROP. 8 this controversy. It is structured in a way that AND THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT illustrates the enormity of the problem. TakFor the state or any other governmental body ing a simple premise and extending that premto permit marriage between only one type of ise to its logical, or illogical, conclusion may person and another is, simply put, to ban mar- show the validity of that premise or the lack riages between people with the definition of thereof — sort of a "let the chips fall where people being arbitrarily chosen by the decid- they may" way of viewing the law. ing body. The initial question one might ask, Other ways of challenging a law, such as therefore, is: How does this permitting and whether it is covered in the Constitution as not permitting relate to the equal protection that document originally was written or whethclause in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Coner it is moral or fair may also be used, but, stitution? when push comes to shove, for any law to be If the state is to permit marriage only between enforced, one must know against whom it is one type of person and another, one must be being enforced and how to differentiate those able to accurately and definitively describe people from the ones being "protected." % the types of persons that are being permitted to marry and those not being permitted to do DOWNLOAD THE PDF so, in a fashion similar to defining interstate commerce. Words connected with marriage that come to mind are male, man, husband, female, woman and wife. Read the full article

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