rbmillerjr: "Sure they can. And they do. Some are unconstitutional and others are not."
ROTFL
You're really stepping into it. I'll continue commenting when I stop laughing. Too difficult to type now.
rbmillerjr: "So, the states have the right to redefine a word that has been culturally accepted for hundreds of years in this country and thousands of years worldwide?"
You may have a point. The Supreme Court previously defended traditional marriage with common law, I believe, when they decided against polygamy in Reynolds v. United States in 1878. The problem is that Reynolds did test not the limits of 10th Amendment protected state powers since Utah was still a US Territory, not a state, when the Court decided Reynolds. And I don't know how common law, referenced in the 7th Amendment, relates to the Constitution well enough to know if common law would reasonably trump 10th Amendment protected state powers or not.
But what I do know is the following.
As a consequence of the states long forgetting that they uniquely control what the Constitution says as evidenced by Article V, they have failed to protect traditional marriage from the corrupt federal government with an appropriate amendment. And since the Supreme Court is now arguably controlled by gay-tolerant activist justices, the Court can easily strike down federal DOMA based on the state sovereignty information that I have noted, imo, common law or no common law.
rbmillerjr: "You are absolutely incorrect and the Supremacy clause and Necessary and Proper Clauses in the same Constitution you cite have been ruled consistently to defeat your position."
I rarely reference the Supremacy and Necessary and Proper Clauses. So off hand I don't know what posts you might be talking about. But when I do mention the Supremacy Clause, for example, a clause often cited by Constitution-ignoring liberals, I am usually careful to note that the clause applies only to powers which the states have expressly delegated to Congress via the Constitution. And regulating marriage isn't one of those powers.
Regarding the overall gist of your replies to my previous post, I will again state the following. Although patriots are now blaming Obama and Congress for unconstitutionally big federal government, many patriots have only themselves to blame for evidently not knowing enough about the Constitution, particularly the Founding States' division of federal and state government powers, to have regularly exercised their voting muscle to keep the corrupt federal government from escaping its constitutionally limited-power cage, as is the situation now.
“I rarely reference the Supremacy and Necessary and Proper Clauses.”
That’s because that knowledge goes beyond your bubble gum machine Law Degree. lol
Very convenient ignorance, since the consistent history of of these Constitutional Clauses disprove your interpretation of the Constitution.
Turning your head to the Constitution doesn’t assist mastery of the Constitution that you selectively cite.
Do some additional study on the basics and we can constructively debate. Note that it is not what supports our ideology that matters, but the reality of what is in the Constitution.