It's the Law, Actually
Some years ago I frequently drove past a road sign in College Park [MD] that said "State Law: Obey All Traffic Signs". I thought it very odd that there was, apparently, a law stating that one must obey other laws; furthermore, it was expressed in a sign stating that one must obey all signs. How self-referential. It's the Russellian Paradox of road signs. Or the Cretan paradox.
What I hadn't realized at the time is the widespread belief among fundamentalist christian soldiers that they need not obey that road sign if they find it in any way objectionable. To do so would violate what they perceive to be their religious freedom to live according to their book of parables in which, it turns out, people driving ox carts had no road signs to obey, so road signs are deemed unnatural and against their god's ordained law. Road signs may even be anathema, although I don't think they're explicitly mentioned in ancient Jewish law.
I'm afraid that it doesn't surprise me in the least that Iowa's Attorney General, Tom Miller, has taken the step of informing the state's county clerks that they are required to follow the law and comply with the Iowa Supreme Court’s unanimous decision on marriage equality. And how tiresome to learn that the court's decision applies everywhere in Iowa.
County Recorders must Comply with Supreme Court’s Varnum Decision
April 21, 2009
We expect duly-elected county recorders to comply with the Iowa Constitution as interpreted unanimously by the Iowa Supreme Court, the highest court in Iowa. Our country lives by and thrives by the rule of law, and the rule of law means we all follow the law as interpreted by our courts — not by ourselves. We don’t each get to decide what the law is; that would lead to chaos. We must live by and follow what the courts decide.
Iowa’s recent Supreme Court ruling concluded: “The language in Iowa Code section 595.2 limiting civil marriage to a man and a woman must be stricken from the statute, and the remaining statutory language must be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage.”
The Court’s ruling applies everywhere in Iowa, in every county. Recorders do not have discretion or power to ignore the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling.
As we have advised recorders for several days: All county recorders in the state of Iowa are required to comply with the Varnum decision following issuance of procedendo from the Supreme Court, and to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples in the same manner as licenses issued to opposite gender applicants.
If necessary, we will explore legal actions to enforce and implement the Court’s ruling, working with the Iowa Dept. of Public Health and county attorneys.
(via Mike Tidmus: Blog)
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Feeling Peevish