Marriage amendment

[Rick Duncan]

Constitutional attorney Mike Farris believes that the Musgrave amendment would not stop courts or legislatures from creating civil unions. Therefore, he proposes the following language:
 
"Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither the United States nor any State shall recognize or grant to any unmarried person the legal rights or status of a spouse."
 
Although I could support the Musgrave amendment enthusiastically, I like the Farris language better. I think it more clearly protects the traditional institution of marriage, both from direct assaults and from attempts to dilute its significance by legislating quasi-marriages by another name.
 
 Rick Duncan





Rick Duncan 
Welpton Professor of Law 
University of Nebraska College of Law 
Lincoln, NE 68583-0902

"When the Round Table is broken every man must follow Galahad or Mordred; middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis

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