One tack the conservative backlash has taken regarding marriage equality and the soon to be issued Supreme Court decision, is to urgently try to ramrod through congress a law that would restrain the Supreme Court, along with the entire federal court system, from actually rendering a decision regarding same gendered marriage. They best hurry as they have about 6 or 7 weeks before the decision makes it too late. A week before the Supreme Court was to hear the case, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), introduced a bill; Restrain the Judges on Marriage Act. The bill has picked up a number of Republican co-sponsors.
A group calling itself Restrain the Judges is selling prepared letters from their website to the US Supreme Court justices and members of the US Congress. The letters are individually addressed to the justices and congress members demanding that the justices cease and desist in undermining the will of the people and that Congress immediately pass a law removing jurisdiction regarding marriage from the federal courts and the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
Additionally, the Restrain the Judges folks are using their income to create billboards claiming that folks are not born GLBT, but that homosexuality is merely a behavior. A young man from Lapeer MI, Ferman Smith, has photographed one such billboard in Dearborn Heights MI. Locals are expecting similar billboards to appear in Flint, Grand Rapids and Lansing MI. Mr Smith has started a GoFundMe page to raise funds to erect a billboard countering the message from Restrain the Judges.
billboard and letter facsimiles are from the Restrain the Judges website
photo of MI billboard by Ferman Smith
posted by David Allen





Even if the bill passed both houses of Congress–which is questionable–there are unlikely to be enough votes to override a presidential veto.
Some conservatives – fortunately not all – haven’t read the Constitution. Otherwise, right or wrong (the Dredd Scott case being the most glaring example of wrong…), they would know that it is the courts who decide after the Congress legislates and the president who executes the laws.
However, there is a clause in the US Constitution Art 3: Sec 2 which states;
Supposedly this entitles the US Congress to limit the federal courts by provisions in laws removing the court’s jurisdiction.
Bro David
As an Iowan I’m embarrassed that our state is represented by Steve King. What nonsense!
In response Rep. Jared Polis announced yesterday that he is considering introducing the “Restrain Steve King from Legislating Act”. I thought Steve King, who once stated that illegal immigrants have calves the size of cantelopes because of all of the illegal drugs they are carrying, was too busy checking calves along the border to have time to worry about marriage. The people of Iowa, a state that has had same sex marriage since 2009, must be so proud of this elected official.
Sad to be wedded to an past fading fast away.