By STEPHANIE MENCIMER [Mother Jones] – Judge Tauro’s ruling also creates some interesting political dynamics for a group that isn’t a party to the lawsuit: the tea party movement. Tauro based part of his decision on the tea partiers’ favorite constitutional amendment: the 10th, which enshrines states’ rights into the founding document. Tea Partiers and other die-hard “conservative constitutionalists” frequently insist that the 10th Amendment should be applied rigorously.
Tauro’s decision will put many of those folks in a bit of a bind, pitting their allegiance to the Constitution against their religious beliefs and distain for gays and lesbians. As Yale law prof Jack Balkin told the New York Times Thursday, Tauro was “attempting to hoist conservatives by their own petard, by saying: ‘You like the 10th Amendment? I’ll give you the 10th Amendment! I’ll strike down DOMA!'”
Continued at Mother Jones | More Chronicle & Notices.
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