The Supreme Court’s vote affirming the right of gays to marry is a victory too for the Constitution itself.
That so many of our Republican officeholders in Texas don’t grasp this should embarrass all of us. It’s Neanderthal that Attorney General Paxton has it wrong, attacking the decision as a threat to religious liberty, which he says is the first freedom. Actually, he’s wrong twice.
What comes first in the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights is vital to all the rest: complete separation of church and state. This alone justifies the Court’s finding.
Second, it folds freedom of religion into the overarching intent of the First Amendment, which is freedom of expression, whether exercised in speech, religion, or assembly.
Mr. Paxton couldn’t help but draw upon two code words of right-wing rattling: infringement and harassment. He provides as context: “Our guiding principle should be to protect people who want to live, work and raise their families in accordance with their religious faith.” But such is not the ordinary American workplace, where business always comes first, where productivity and success make little room for time wasted in political or religious chatter.
If workers expect the workplace protection he alludes to, they should seek employment in the large bureaucracy of the church they follow, or in the charity work that many perform. I have long applauded the hours that my closest Catholic friend devotes weekly to Catholic Charities. But every other workplace deserves separation of church and state. It’s the great wall that keeps bureaucrats, of the Paxton tilt, from telling us our workday must always start with a “word of thanks.”
What I’m always thankful for is the Constitution, which shields us from public officeholders who really don’t understand it, however prone they are to misuse it.
Paxton has doubled down on his abuse of office by allowing government clerks, county clerks in particular, to think they might force a new challenge in the courts by continuing to refuse marriage licenses to gay couples, on grounds that their personal beliefs are infringed in doing it. Paxton just doesn’t get it. In accepting election to his state office, that office requires that his right-wing evangelicalism be left at the door. This goes for every public office, leaving county clerks no room for exceptions. Without that great wall, is there any corner of government that would be safe from religious distraction and agitation?
What’s that old adage? Ignorance of the law is no excuse. In the state’s highest office of law enforcement, it becomes obscene. Paxton’s ignorance is bringing nationwide embarrassment to Texas. In effect, he’s telling county clerks and other officials in licensing and assisting gays in marriage that their duties to the law need not outweigh religious conviction in official conduct — arousing doubt that he’s even read the Constitution. Now fellow lawyers are threatening a formal complaint to the Texas Bar, whose rules require that members uphold the Constitution, hence abide by edicts of the Supreme Court. Some 150 lawyers have expressed willingness to sign such a complaint, with the count growing.
Paxton’s stand is not working. Marriage licenses are now flowing freely to gays in Texas. The AG now must grapple with slackening respect for his opinions.
Frank Mensel — July 2015