Why states are required to recognize each other’s marriage certificates

The fight to ban same-sex marriage has always been dead on arrival and if people would understand the Constitution this would not be a surprise.

 

Article !V, Section 1: Look at the Full Faith and Credit Clause.

 

"Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof."

 

The clause requires each state to recognize all marriages contracted in all other states in accordance with these other states' laws. That's because the Clause says "full faith and credit shall be given in each state", and $that Congress may prescribe the manner in which such acts/records/proceedings shall be proven and their effect. But it doesn't say that Congress may legislate that they have no effect in other states, or that states can disregard each other's marriage certificates.

 

Congress may require, by general laws, that more than just a marriage certificate/license be presented to prove that marriage was contracted. But it may not legislate that one state can completely disregard other states' marriage certificate. If it were true, a dangerous precedent would be set.

 

By that same logic, the Congress could allow states to:

–        refuse to recognize validly contracted heterosexual marriages from other states, because laws on who is eligible to marry vary state by state (some states allow first cousins to marry, most others do not; some states allow girls under 18 to get married, some others do not);

–        refuse to recognize divorce rulings from other states (e.g. let's say that a state opposes divorce on principle, bans divorce completely, and disregards divorce rulings from other states' courts);

–        – refuse to recognize Drivers Licenses from other states (after all, highway codes and Driver License exams vary from state to state and one state may refuse to recognize your driver license on the grounds that you may not have been tested sufficiently); how would you like not being allowed to drive into KY or VA because your DL is not considered valid there? or moving to VA and having to pass your DL exams all over again?

–         refuse to recognize death certificates from other states; thus, a person who is considered dead in one state may be considered alive in another.

 

These are but a few of the consequences of adopting such interpretation of the Clause. If Congress can allow states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages validly contracted in another state, it can also allow states to disregard these other documents. Such an interpretation assumes that the Clause is internally inconsistent, self-contradictory, and unclear. It is not a good faith interpretation.

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."

Napoleon Bonaparte