Consequences of an Idea: The Social Cost of Redefining Marriage

McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University http://kirbycenter.hillsdale.edu/ Advocates of redefining marriage assured the public that their proposal would injure no one’s rights or interests. Today it is clear that this is the very reverse of the truth. What are the current and likely future social consequences of redefining marriage to mean a mere romantic companionship or domestic partnership? How would American constitutionalism be affected if state and federal courts continue to advance this cause?