Which Justice Sotomayor will show up in the next landmark family-law case: the Sotomayor who affirms the “precious” rights and duties of biological parents? Or the Sotomayor who insists on full "marriage equality"?
Author: Adam J. MacLeod (Adam J. MacLeod)
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Did The Supreme Court Take Tennessee Courts Out of the Marriage Business?
For a trial judge, the jurisdictional implications of the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision are not matters of idle speculation. They are pressing practical questions with grave consequences.
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The Ambiguous Quest for Marriage Equality
Do proponents of marriage equality want marriage equality or not? The rhetoric of marriage equality does not match the reality. Only if marriage is the union of a man and a woman does it make any sense to have paternity presumed without consent, incest and polygamy prohibited, and custody bestowed upon biological or presumed parents except for cause.
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There Is a Fundamental Right to Marriage, and We Must Preserve It
Whether or not Locke would approve of it, there is a fundamental marriage right. It is ancient, not recent, and it secures the integrity of the natural family. In fact, nothing is more fundamental to our legal edifice than the ancient liberty of the natural family.
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Modest Conscience Protections in Louisiana Elicit Hysteria
The Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act is timely, necessary, and well-justified. If passed, it will help preserve the State of Louisiana’s commitment to freedoms of conscience, religion, and expression.
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Religious Freedom and Sexual Identity: A Proposal for Peace
If law can declare certain reasons for a private business owner to refuse service—such as sexual orientation—invalid, then it can also designate other reasons as valid—such as religious convictions about the nature of marriage.
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Yes, Tyranny is a Fitting Word
Why should a federal judge expect citizens, lawyers, and officials to obey her orders when she ignores the cases before her, and when she holds facts, law, and reason in such obvious contempt?
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Judicial Tyranny UnMoored
Judge Callie Granade ignored the case in front of her, then decided a hypothetical case involving facts that she made up, many of which directly contradicted the undisputed facts in the actual case before her.
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The Hidden Costs of Legalized Suicide: What We Can Learn from Brittany Maynard
We ought to demonstrate compassion for Brittany Maynard, but we must not allow our compassion to obscure the nature of her choice—or the consequences that legal acceptance of a legal right to kill has for those left behind.
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Gordon College and Pluralism in Higher Education
Requiring all colleges and universities to adopt the same practices and policies would destroy their institutional identities and prevent them from achieving their diverse missions.
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What’s at Stake at the Bakery: How Property Rights Got Sexy
State lawmakers should make it clear that religious and moral reasons are rational and legitimate, and that property owners may act or refrain from action in obedience to conscience.
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No Interest in Fathers
President Obama’s enthusiasm for emphasizing the importance of fatherhood is an encouraging development. Unfortunately, the president has undercut this message with his own policies.
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What Will Become of Equal Protection for Women?
Laws in Massachusetts and California requiring that sex-segregated facilities be open to both sexes will undermine equal protection for women.
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Principled Entitlement Reform: Private Ordering Needs Room to Grow
Private, not public, law enables healthy dependencies by carving out space for communities of people to deliberate together about what to do with the resources available to them.
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A Moral Foundation for Entitlement Reform
Entitlement reform cannot succeed by eliminating dependence. Instead we should aim to promote healthy dependencies.
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Euphemisms: The Modus Operandi of Death Rights Advocates
Death rights advocates can only win supporters by calling the act of killing something else.
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Marriage, Religious Liberty, and the Ban Myth
It’s a myth that marriage law “bans” same-sex relationships because it treats marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
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Property from the Inside
While the state has a role to play in promoting the common good, left unchecked by constitutional strictures the regulatory state will crowd private property out of public life. Without private property, our nation would be impoverished not only materially but also morally. The second in a two-part series.
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Property and the Regulatory State at the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court’s conflicted rulings on whether the government must compensate property owners for burdening their rights and interests raises questions about the value of private property in American life. The first in a two-part series.
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Sky Fall: Gender Ideology Comes to the Schoolhouse
Since redefining marriage requires us to deny sexual differences, even school children now have to conform to that principle at the risk of punishment.
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Law’s Logic at the End of Life
To its detriment, Howard Ball’s new book on end-of-life law focuses more on the emotions and biases of the law’s defenders than on law’s history and content.
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Moral Neutrality, Marriage, and the Supreme Court
A recent ruling in the United States District Court in Hawaii reveals a rational basis for the Supreme Court to rule on a morally neutral basis that marriage can be enshrined in law.
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The Right to Do Good
Two incompatible conceptions of rights are at stake in the debate over the HHS mandate.
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Judging Human Worth
The failure to grasp the implications of intrinsic human worth plagues arguments for physician-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia.
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Rediscovering Property
Has the Supreme Court rediscovered the institution of property? In a recent unanimous affirmation of property owners’ rights, the Court gives us reason to hope.