States have the power

I think letter-writer Russell Winburn needs to study for himself the principles inherent to a constitutional republic and I would suggest he start with the Federalist Papers. James Madison states verbatim in his Federalist 45: “The powers delegated by the proposed constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite.” In this, the father of the Constitution was explaining the intent of the 10th Amendment.

Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution declares: “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government.” Since the several states created the federal government when they adopted the Constitution, it stands to reason who they desired to be inferior in nature. Therefore, I believe the powers of inferior entities are certainly supposed to be “few and defined,” which Madison declared verbatim.

Since the issue of marriage was not delegated to the federal government, it was reserved to the several states per the 10th Amendment in the Bill of Rights. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall declared in Barron v. City of Baltimore that the Bill of Rights strictly limits the federal government only and not the states.

I believe that because the federal government is commanded to “guarantee a republican form of government” to the states, it cannot encroach on the powers reserved to the states which are “numerous and indefinite.” I agree with Jerry Cox that this is indeed judicial tyranny. LOY MAUCH

Bismarck