Dianne Feinstein: “I do not consider myself an expert on marriage. I have been married for a long time. I have one daughter, three…”

“I do not consider myself an expert on marriage. I have been married for a long time. I have one daughter, three stepdaughters, and five grandchildren. I celebrate marriage. I understand the difficulties in working to keep it together. But I believe this is a waste of time. The votes are not present to submit this amendment to the States. The timing is just a few months before an election, and family law has always been relegated to the States. This essentially would be the first departure from that. My argument today is based on my understanding of the law. My understanding of what is happening in the States indicates to me that the States are well able to handle the issue of marriage on their own. The tenth amendment of the U.S. Constitution clearly states: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Marriage is not once mentioned in the Constitution. Most authorities believe it to be a power reserved to the States. As early as 1890, that is 114 years ago, in In Re Burrus, the United States Supreme Court, in a child custody dispute, stated: The whole subject of the domestic relations of husband and wife, parent and child, belongs to the laws of the states, and not to the laws of the United States.”