[Doug Loss]

Why is the Massachusetts General Assembly even considering this? I haven't read the Mass. Constitution, but I have an awfully hard time believing that it gives the Judicial Court the power to order legislation to be passed. The GA should just say, "Thanks for your opinion," and go its merry way.

If the Constitution "does" give the court this power, the Feds need to step in and force a change to guarantee to the citizens of the Commonwealth a republican form of government.

[only1percent]

Indeed, the SJC doesn't have the ability to order the legislature to adopt legislation. The way that courts impose their view of whats unconstitutional is to issue specific orders to executive branch officials and private citizens to act in a specific way NOTWITHSTANDING the legislation. If the executive branch official doesn't comply, then he gets sent to jail for contempt. The decisions adopted today and last year basically say that if the legislature doesn't adopt suitable legislation, THEN the SJC will start issuing mandates to officials to ignore the legislatures.

The orders will be simple: the vital statistics people will be ordered to issue marriage licenses and to record marriage certificates, judges will be ordered to solemnized gay marriages, tax officials will be ordered to modify the income tax return forms and to give all marriage rights to gay married couples, hospitals and landlords and lenders (etc.) will have to extend all statutory rights of marriage to gay married couples.

The legislature has three avenues to pursue. The legislature can pursue a corrective amendment to the State Constitution (this takes time). It can vote to remove the majority of the SJC, but the Governor and Governor's council would have to concurand have them replaced with judges who will overturn the decision. (Don't know if this is underway.) It can revoke the institution of marriage (the SJC didn't hold that gays must be able to marry, it held that gays must have the same marriage rights as non-gays, meaning that if straights have none, then gays need have none.)

Why is the Massachusetts General Assembly even considering this? I haven't read the Mass. Constitution, but I have an awfully hard time believing that it gives the Judicial Court the power to order legislation to be passed. The GA should just say, "Thanks for your opinion," and go its merry way.

[Kahonek]

"I have an awfully hard time believing that it gives the Judicial Court the power to order legislation to be passed."

The Court did not order any legislation to be passed.