FRUM’S ERRORS

I’ve been a little busy but Wally Olson at his superb blog, Overlawyered.com, dissects the inaccuracies in David Frum’s recent posting about a Vermont child-custody case. David also implies that my support for federalism is purely tactical. It isn’t. I’ve long been a believer that important policy decisions should be made as close to the local level as possible; I don’t believe the Full Faith and Credit Clause can or should be applied to civil marriage. I support the utterly superfluous part of DOMA that allows states to refuse to recognize other states’ marriages. I do believe that the right to marry is covered under equal protection guarantees under Loving, but that’s a separate matter than the federalist issue, and would require a sea-change in public attitudes toward gay relationships (a sea-change I’ve been doing my bit to advance). Still, we’re nowhere near there yet – and may never be. I see no possibility in the foreseeable future of SCOTUS applying equal protection to marriage for gays.