This blog may owe an apology for indicating that the law under which a professor was arrested in his own home was "The Stupidest Law In The Nation".Well there is a new stupid kid on the block, the Texas Politicians, who have outlawed marriage accidentally.
At least according to the woman running for Texas Attorney General:
Texans: Are you really married?(Star Telegram, emphasis added [see also McClatchey, Freedom To Marry]). Everyone has heard about the world renowned strict constructionists of Texas who vehemently complain about judges who do not read the law as it is written, eschewing any excuses for deviating from exactly what it says.
Maybe not.
Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.
The amendment, approved by the Texas Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by Texas voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the trouble-making phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:
"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."
Can you imagine the pretzel contortions they will be doing when they try to explain why strict constructionist ideology does not apply to their lack of command of American English?
A famous lawman from Texas, not Judge Roy L. Bean, infamously said "Childrens do learn", but that does not cover strict constructionists west of the Pecos evidently.
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