New at Reason: Jacob Sullum on Gay Marriage by Judicial Fiat

April 15, 2009

Last week the Vermont legislature overrode the governor to legalize gay marriage. The week before, the Iowa Supreme Court achieved the same result by overriding the state legislature, declaring a 1998 ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. If you think the benefits of civil marriage should be available to all couples regardless of sexual orientation, should you care how we get there? Senior Editor Jacob Sullum argues that you should, because the approach taken in Iowa, although liberty-enhancing in that case, ultimately undermines a constitution's ability to constrain government action and protect individual freedom.

Read all about it here.