Protect the dignity of voters

I mentioned yesterday that Michigan AG Bill Schuette had used Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's reasoning in the recent affirmative action case to argue the voters have a right to deny same-sex marriage. Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin expands on the story.

The big difference between the filings at the district level (which we won back in March) and the filing with the 6th Circuit is that the infamous and discredited Mark Regnerus study is missing. Completely gone, never mentioned. That's a good thing.

Instead, Schuette embraced what Kennedy wrote in the affirmative action case. That's important because most court observers see Kennedy as the deciding vote in a same-sex marriage case. We don't have to wait for Kennedy's colleagues to use his words against him, Schuette is doing it for them. Schuette's reasoning now goes something like this:

This appeal of marriage rights isn't about gay people. Nope. Not at all. They're really nice people and surely make good parents.

Justice Kennedy wrote, "It is demeaning to the democratic process to presume that the voters are not capable of deciding an issue of this sensitivity on decent and rational grounds." So we must protect the dignity of the millions of voters who approved that marriage protection amendment. Because, well, they're rational people and not at all guided by animus.

So if voters have made a rational and reasonable conclusion that straight people make the best parents and that children deserve a mother and a father the court should honor that decision.

Translation: Even though that Regnerus study was thoroughly debunked, I like his argument so much I'm going to pull it out of the mouths of voters. Besides, it is the only argument I've got.