Gay Rights Movement ‘Emboldened’ by Marriage Ruling Targets Religious Liberty

If the debate over marriage looks like it’s becoming more polarized, that’s because it is.

Professor John C. Eastman, founding director of the Claremont Institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, said the Supreme Court opened a Pandora’s box in June when it struck down all laws nationwide defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Rather than resolving an issue once and for all — as the court often thinks itself capable of doing — the decision only “further emboldened” the gay rights movement and led to a series of fights at the state level, he said.

“Now, they’re going after any exemptions for religious liberty and whatever. It’s incredibly polarized,” he said.

This is not the first time the Supreme Court has sought to resolve political discord only to further inflame an issue.

“The consequence of trying to settle the issue, ignoring the political resolution that was in the works in Dred Scott v. Sandford, led to the Civil War,” Mr. Eastman said, referring to the 1857 Supreme Court decision that said slaves and their descendants could never become U.S. citizens.

He also pointed to the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade creating a constitutional right to abortion, which has sparked a nearly half-century culture war in which the question of abortion has taken center stage in the political arena.

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