Zoe Lofgren: “we here in America are fortunate indeed for our history and our law. We have a written Constitution that protects our…”

“we here in America are fortunate indeed for our history and our law. We have a written Constitution that protects our liberties, and we have a system of checks and balances that makes sure that we do not fall prey to totalitarianism. 201 years ago, a case was decided, Marbury v. Madison, and in that famous case, Justice Marshall pointed out that we were at a cusp. Either the Constitution is a superior, paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, he said, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts and like other acts is alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it. He said then, and for the last 200 years we have agreed, that it is indefatigably the province and the duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Make no mistake about it, this proposal, whatever you think about gay marriage, whatever you think about DOMA, this proposal today is a radical one. It proposes to change the system of government that we have enjoyed here in America for over 200 years, a system of checks and balances, where the Constitution is the paramount authority, and the executive and the legislative branches must live within the Constitution. This road leads to totalitarianism; and so whatever you think on the hot issue, the political issue of gay marriage, I urge you to reject this first step down the road to a system of government that is markedly different from what Americans have enjoyed for the last 200 years.”