OK- so the big news today, is the brief from the Ninth Circuit in California about the Pro 8 appeals, but it is far from the only, or even most important news, and I want to focus on a different issue. I’m going to make an absurd claim: A large number of Americans don’t care about the Constitution or what laws are or are not constitutional. How big of a number is “large,” I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter.This ought to worry every American regardless of how they feel about any one issue or another. If the Constitution means nothing, then we have no Freedom, and there can be no Justice for All.

The linked story is all about the governor-elect in Iowa, concerning the impeaching the Judges who are responsible for gay marriage in that state. The focus of the story, impeachment, is not the big deal for me. The really big deal, is bolded in the sentence that follows:

Branstad had previously not taken a position on the impeachment drive, saying that it was the business of another branch of government, though he had also attacked the Democratic state Senate majority leader for refusing to hold a vote on a state constitutional amendment to re-outlaw gay marriage.

This past November, Iowa voters removed three state Supreme Court justices who had faced up-or-down retention elections, and who were heavily targeted by conservatives for their role in the unanimous 2009 ruling that legalized same marriage in the state.

So, let me see if I got this straight (pardon the pun):

1. Iowa lawmakers pass legislation for a anti-gay marriage amendment.
2. Iowa judges strike it down as unconstitutional.
3. Governor elect uses the Constitution as the basis for why he won’t impeach judges.
4. Governor-elect  is angry because the Democrats don’t vote on another bill that would be equally unconstitutional as the first one.

Did I miss something there? Am I utterly crazy? How is it that at one point the constitution matters and then, it doesn’t?

As much as this looks like a joke, it isn’t, and the reality is that we haven’t yet seen the full force of the anti-gay crazies who are doing anything in their power to stop gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgenders from having full equality. If we don’t have the Constitution (of the states or of the Federal government) to be the foundation for all legal work, there is nothing. There is no freedom.  There is nothing but mob rule. The grass may as well be red, and the sky green.

Iowa GOPer Branstad: Don’t Impeach State Justices Over Gay Marriage | TPMDC.