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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 4, 2014 04:09 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Daryl D. Metcalfe |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Resolution Urging Governor Corbett to Defend States' Rights |
| I invite you to join me in cosponsoring a resolution urging the Administration to appeal the Whitewood v. Wolf court decision that invalidated Pennsylvania’s Defense of Marriage Act. There are only thirty days from the May 20th federal court decision to file a notice of appeal. There is still time for the Governor to reverse his decision, but time is of the essence. This federal court’s usurpation of power is an affront to the sovereignty of the laws of this Commonwealth. The Governor’s announcement that he does not intend to appeal the decision establishes a harmful precedent that federal judges may overturn any state law that they wish in spite of recent United States Supreme Court language to the contrary. Any changes to Pennsylvania’s definition of marriage should be as a result of the legislative process, allowing elected members of the General Assembly the opportunity to represent the opinions of the citizens they have sworn to represent. It should concern all Pennsylvanians when an appointed federal court judge rewrites a state law which expressed the will of the Commonwealth’s citizens as enacted by elected members of the General Assembly in Pennsylvania. The Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Windsor clearly affirms the historical precedent that the federal government may not interfere with a state’s definition or regulation of marriage. To allow this decision to go unchallenged would undermine the powers reserved to the states or the people in the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of our Nation. I urge you to collaborate with me in urging Governor Corbett to guard the laws of Pennsylvania. |
Introduced as HR891