Parties, Values, & Electing Judges

The local impact of the SCOTUS marriage equality decision centers around what the reaction of some judges will be regarding the decision on their part to conduct weddings.

Ted Cruz, the poster boy for Texas Crazy, has come out and said we should elect members of the Supreme Court. I guess he thinks he knows better than the founders and I'm sure the rest of the Tea Party Crazy Train are perfectly content to follow him down that path.

Go ahead Teddy, make this a campaign issue as long as you're still in the race. Thanks for the help.

The state of Texas has elections for pretty much all judges, except associate judges that are appointed. 

Despite what libertarians will tell you about some "false left-right paradigm" the truth is there is a big difference in the values of parties. The local judges that have expressed some concern about same-sex marriage are Democrats.

Marriage equality has always been a part of the platform of the Democratic Party. If a judge is religious they are free to practice their religion. No one is going to force them to believe anything and as a legal matter, they cannot be compelled to perform same sex marriages. 

I admire anyone that has the courage to stand by their convictions, even if I happen to disagree with those convictions. 

But we also have the right and responsibility to stand by our convictions as well. When someone runs for office, they will now be asked if they are willing to perform same sex marriages. They can, should, and will have to face scrutiny from the Democratic Party for not fulfilling their duties as a judge because of their personal beliefs. 

JPs in particular are in an even more difficult position because if they choose not to do the marriages, they force constituents to have to go to an entirely different jurisdiction to access the same services available to every other resident of the county simply because they are being held hostage by the JPs beliefs. The consequence of refusing to do same sex marriages is the fact that you will have to face the voters on that issue at some point. 

We as the electorate elect judges to interpret and apply the law. We don't elect them to interpret and apply the law based on their religious beliefs. 

If our party leadership is silent on this issue, which is a central part of the Democratic Party's platform, then our Party's leadership no longer deserves our support either. If we can't expect our Party leadership to stand up for the values of our Party, then why are they there? If you want to stand up for your religious beliefs, then go run for something having to do with whatever church you are a part of. So as a Democrat, I'm hoping to see or hear some statements in support of the SCOTUS decision and critical of Democratic judges that are not willing to perform same sex marriages from our Party Chairman Butch Maya, from our State Democratic Executive Committeeman and woman Donald L. Williams and Rebeca Bustamante, Chair of the Tejano Democrats Eddie Holguin, President of the Eastside Democrats Ruth Williams, and President of the Westside Democrats Ken Sutherland. 

If they don't, then they are failing us as leaders of our Party.

Its fine that judges want to stand by their beliefs, but the fact that some judges may use Republican rhetoric to justify not performing same sex marriages speaks volumes about them. So you get to keep your values and we get to hold you accountable for it.

I'm urging every Democrat to remember the names of the judges that are not willing to perform the same sex marriages come election time. 

But fear not, in case you forget...I'll make sure to remind you....