Loudermilk: Court Violated Separation of Powers In Marriage Equality Ruling

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U.S. Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-Cassville) is blasting the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to make marriage equality legal across the country.

Loudermilk, who represents Georgia’s 11th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, said in a statement that the court “has ignored the foundational intentions of the Constitution.”

Marriage, he added, has always been recognized as part of a ”religious institution,” something American founding fathers have deemed to be outside the realm of the federal government.

“Therefore, any recognition or licensing of marriage by government was left within the power of the states,” he said. “In this decision, the Supreme Court fully stepped upon the principle of federalism and the rights and will of the states regarding social and religious issues. Once again the courts have overstepped their boundaries and have engaged in social engineering by violating the basic premise of separation of powers and the will of the people.”

The decision was authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was joined by the court’s four more liberal judges.

According to the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, “The Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-State.”

Gov. Nathan Deal said Georgia would abide by the ruling.

“While I believe that this issue should be decided by the states and by legislatures, not the federal judiciary, I also believe in the rule of law,” Deal said in a statement. “The state of Georgia is subject to the laws of the United States, and we will follow them.”

State Attorney General Sam Olens has instructed all state agencies to comply with the Supreme Court decision:

“This mandate requires Georgia to recognize same sex marriage in the same way it recognizes marriage between a man and a woman,” Olens said. “Georgia’s local governments are now constitutionally required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, to issue those licenses in the same way and via the same procedures employed for all other applicants, and to recognize same-sex marriages on an equal footing with all other marriages.”

Patch Regional Editor Greg Hambrick contributed to this article.

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Photo credit: Congressman Barry Loudermilk’s Facebook page