Rep. Jay Inslee's prepared floor statement on the Marriage Protection Act


Mr. Speaker, I thought I heard everything here, but citing the Dred Scott decision in support of this amendment is like citing the Ku Klux Klan in support of civil rights legislation. This amendment is a Soviet style attack on American freedom, and the reason requires a little look at history.

The former Soviet Union had a Constitution, like we do. The former Soviet Union had a Bill of Rights, like we do; very similar to our Bill of Rights. But, the former Soviet Union had another little trick. Their little trick was that the executive and legislative branches prohibited the judicial system of the former Soviet Union from reinforcing their Bill of Rights, and what did they get? Tyranny.

The intrusive lesson of the Soviet Union is that we should not go down the path of getting rid of, yes, frustrating, non-understandable courts that sometimes do not agree with Congress. But, I guess the authors of this amendment feel that they are smarter than Thomas Jefferson and smarter than any court that ever lived.

This is not the only right that is going to be on the chopping block. Once we do away with the independence of the American judicial system, which has never been done in American history, ever; this Chamber has never, ever cut the knees out of the American Bill of Rights in American history, and this is not like the first time we have a controversial issue that may end up in the courts. Civil rights were controversial. Gun rights are controversial. It may be controversial if this Congress passes a gun rights bill like the Brady Bill and then it goes to the U.S. judicial system to see if it is constitutional, that is controversial. But, where will this stop?