[dogbyte12]

Amending the constitution is a drastic thing. I think the President wants to see what happens in Massachusettes first and get some clarification from the Supreme Court. If the Court rules for gay marriage, then he will most likely support the amendment.

It will take the better part of a year for this amendment to be passed through 37 states. I don't think Bush wants this to overshadow his re-election campaign. He hopes that O'Connor and Kennedy will peel back with Scalia, Rehnquist and Thomas when it comes to the marriage issue, so the constitutional question will sort itself out without a lengthy amendment process.

[Right Wing Professor]

He hopes that O'Connor and Kennedy will peel back with Scalia, Rehnquist and Thomas when it comes to the marriage issue, so the constitutional question will sort itself out without a lengthy amendment process.

Even if they do, look at what happened to Bowers vs. Hardwick.

[AntiGuv]

It's 38 states and it would no doubt take at least two to three years since several states require a majority of their legislators to stand for intervening election before they may vote on a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

[William McKinley]

I don't think Bush wants this to overshadow his re-election campaign.

I think that if Massachusettes comes down during the campaign, and puts the question of the judiciary on the front burner with a bevy of strict constructionists who would defend against such judicial activism stuck behind Democrat filibusters, Bush and Rove would not be terribly upset with that as a political matter.

[sinkspur]

It will take the better part of a year for this amendment to be passed through 37 states.

It will take a hell of a lot longer than that.

Texas, after this special session, won't meet again until 2005.

[Howlin]

I am against amending the Constitution, period.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Amendments can be overturned, just like the Eighteenth was overturned.

The moment a Definition of Marriage Amendment is ratified, the States will have succesfully transfered jurisdiction on the right to define marriage to the Federal government.

Which means that the States would be unable to stop a liberal Congress from overturning the Amendment, and replacing it with a Right to Marry one.

After that, it will be impossible to get it undone.