Allowing SSM in California, overturning not just a hotly debated statewide referendum, but also a CA SSC ruling isn’t narrow.
I’m not convinced that democracy is the best way to sort out rights. That the CA SSC affirmed Prop. 8 goes a long way toward telling me that the process was legitimate and that homosexual rights are being retaind in other, acceptable ways in CA. It isn’t like CA is a known hotbed of conservatism. Plenty of pro-SSM money and PR were poured into that campaign. The time to overturn it was at the state supreme court, not SCOTUS.
“I’m not convinced that democracy is the best way to sort out rights.”
There are two types of rights, natural and civil. Natural rights come from God or nature. Civil rights come from law. Laws are made legislatures, or the people can act as their own legislature and make law through the referendum process.
Courts do not hold any legislative, or law-making power. They can adjudicate laws and strike them down when necessary. But they cannot create rights. Though they have, and in doing so they have usurped legislative power.