New alternative to marriage amendment.
US Representative from Oklahoma Ernest Istook has a new idea to protect marriage against being redefined by those who want gay marriage. He wants to give the US Supreme Court original jurisdiction in legal challenges to marriage. (*)
That might work if it were limited to challenges based on federal law such as the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. I’m not sure if that is more limited than what Representative Istook has proposed. It’s important to limit it to federal challenges, as the federal government currently has no special power to regulate marriage per se.
Original jurisdiction would mean that legal cases of this sort would not work their way up through the court system, but would go directly to the Supreme Court.
The advantage of original jurisdiction in the Supreme Court for all federal challenges to DOMA and the definition of marriage as one man and one woman is that such cases would then be on the national radar. There would be no surprise to the public like in the Goodridge case. It would also put the heat on the Supreme Court. If it didn’t rule the right way, more pressure for an amendment or some other confrontation with the High Court could be brought to bear. The administrative burden from what would be a potentially large horde of challenges might force the Supreme Court to issue a blanket ruling that DOMA would hold firm.
Istook’s idea is interesting and should be explored.