Justice Elena Kagan: Not as clever as she thinks on same-sex "marriage"

Surpreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, responding to Charles Cooper, the lawyer defending Proposition 8, the California "gay marriage" ban, after he insisted that the primary purpose of marriage is procreation, responded sarcastically, "..if the couple - I can assure you, if both the woman and the man are over the age of 55, there are not a lot of children coming out of that marriage."  See here.

Yes, it's entirely true that people marry for a variety of motives: for love, for companionship, for money or economic considerations, for position.  And the idea of having children may be very secondary and perhaps only tolerated rather than desired, in the minds of couples marrying.  The idea of having children need not be uppermost in their minds.  But there is no doubt that within marriage, procreation is primary in nature's design.  We eat mostly for the pleasure we obtain from eating and we rarely think of its necessity for sustaining life.  Nevertheless, the latter is the primary purpose of eating.  The same is true for the sexual act.  It may be done for pleasure, but its primary purpose is to sustain the race - procreation.

Marriage must conform to the natural law which is promulgated by God and is the objective order established by Him.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that, "The 'divine and natural' law shows man the way to follow so as to practice the good and attain his end." (CCC, 1955).  And again: "The natural law, present in the heart of each man and established by reason, is universal in its precepts and its authority extends to all men.  It expresses the dignity of the person and determines the basis for his fundamental rights and duties." (CCC, 1956).

The eternal law is in God.  When applied to creatures, this eternal law is called the natural law.  In nature we see that all things are bound by constant and uniform inclinations to attain definite ends.  For example, it is natural for the sun to rise and light and heat the earth, for flowers to grow and bloom, for fish to swim and birds to fly, and for man to think thoughts and to share them with others.  In each case, these things are simply obeying the law which is stamped on their natures by their Creator.  This temporal effect of the eternal law which shows itself in creatures is what we mean by the natural law.  It is called natural law because it is grounded in nature itself and manifests itself through nature, or essence or the constitution of things.

Now, getting back to Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.  Her response to attorney Charles Cooper was not amusing and betrays her ignorance of the natural law, which is the basis for all civil law.  The primary purpose of marriage is procreation.  Besides this primary purpose, marriage has secondary ends, the mutual material and spiritual assistance to the married parties and protection from the abuse of sex life.  But the primary purpose of marriage is essential for its validity to the extent that the right to marital commerce may never be excluded.  The marriage contract is valid even when it is certain that there is no possibility of having children (some couples are unable to have children), provided that the primary purpose of marriage, which is procreation, is not excluded.  But two people of the same sex are not able to have children.  In a homosexual union, procreation is excluded.  As we read in the Catechism, homosexual acts are, "..contrary to the natural law.  They close the sexual act to the gift of life." (CCC, 2357).

Justice Kagan's response to attorney Cooper does not invalidate his argument.  It only serves to highlight her paucity of intellect.  But then, this is the same Elena Kagan who issued a Socialist call to action to change America

and to defeat the "entrenched foe."  Presumably, this entrenched foe is the Judeo-Christian foundation upon which America was built.

Judicial Arrogance: One Judge Voids More Than 7 Million Voters

"...it is now clear that it is the courts that threaten our liberty - the liberty to govern ourselves - more profoundly than does any legislature." - Robert H. Bork, Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline," p. 115.


The will of the people to preserve the traditional understanding of marriage has once again been thwarted by an activist judge, a radical ideologue bent on imposing his own agenda on the masses through judicial fabrication. The Homosexual Movement, which is nothing less a moral revolution, asserts that keeping same-sex unions illegal is discriminatory and constitutes a violation of justice since homosexual persons are equally entitled to marriage and its benefits.

The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith refuted this sophism in its 2003 document entitled "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons":

"Differentiating between persons or refusing social recognition or benefits is unacceptable only when it is contrary to justice. The denial of the social and legal status of marriage to forms of cohabitation that are not and cannot be marital is not opposed to justice; on the contrary, justice requires it." (No. 8).

As I reflect on the arrogance of one judge essentially voiding the will of more than 7 million California voters, the words of Thomas Jefferson to William Jarvis in a September 28, 1820 letter come to mind: "You seem..to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men, and not more so....and their power is the more dangerous, as they are in office for life and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to elective control. The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots."

Jefferson's sober warning has been largely ignored. And today the American people are plagued with judicial despots, activist judges who are "all the more dangerous" since they are are not subject to elective control.


Judge Vaughn Walker's toppling of Proposition is nothing less than judicial arrogance and abuse of power. He should be impeached.

Drew Barrymore: Spokesperson for same-sex "marriage"?

Actress Drew Barrymore attended a "gay marriage" rally following the California Supreme Court's ruling to uphold Proposition 8, which makes it illegal for same-sex couples to marry in the state of California. Ms. Barrymore addressed the crowd saying, "I am who I am because of the people who influenced me growing up, and many of them were gay. No one has any right to tell anyone what makes a family..."

Ms. Barrymore was interviewed by USA Weekend Magazine (for its August 7-9, 1998 edition). In this article, we read that at one point, "The angelic child who charmed generations of moviegoers as Gertie in E.T. found herself cascading into drugs and alcohol, drinking champagne and smoking pot by age 12. By 12 she'd discovered cocaine, and two years later she attempted suicide." The article goes on to explain how Ms. Barrymore was "in and out of rehab before she could drive" and that Ms. Barrymore "has been through a few public romances...was married for less than two months in 1994 to Welsh bar owner Jeremy Thomas" and "considers herself bisexual." (Full article here).

Ms. Barrymore has asserted that many of the people who influenced her growing up were homosexual. And yet, Ms. Barrymore was "in and out of rehab," abused alcohol and drugs, and attempted suicide.

In his book "The Antichrist," Fr. Vincent P. Miceli, S.J., explains that "Satan, his demons and their human henchmen know that the fate of mankind depends on the spiritual durability of family relationships. If one splits the atom, the smallest unit of matter, tremendous physical disaster results from the explosive forces released. And if one splits the family, the smallest unit of society, tremendous social disaster results from the explosive passions released. There is no law against splitting the atom. But God Himself forbids splitting the family. 'What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.' From the very beginning the Creator insisted: '...A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' God planned that the peace and holiness of the family should consist in the unity of mind, heart, soul and body expressed by mutual love and sacrifice. But the forerunners of the Antichrist are destroying the family. It has been a special scar on the worst pagan cultures and the worst idolatrous religions that they openly attacked the gender identities of the sexes. They celebrated sexual indulgence, sexual experimentation, sexual symbols, fertility rites, temple prostitution, seasonal sex orgies, sexual abuse and enslavement of young women, girls and boys. Such abominations are back with us in a flood tide and increasing at an alarming rate every day." (p. 231).

There is an old dictum: "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." But, as Fr. Miceli reminds us, "if the person who rocks the cradle is warped and crippled in personality then the world will not be ruled but ruined" (The Antichrist, p. 237).

Let's all pray for Drew Barrymore, a young woman who has many fine qualities. That the little girl lost will find her way home through the grace of God.

Related reading here and here.