SocraticGadfly: Once again, Warren Chisum outdoes himself

April 11, 2007

Once again, Warren Chisum outdoes himself

The Texas Senate's windbag of the windy Panhandle shows why we should consider other legislative ideas of his, such as the “Bible as literature” book, with much skepticism: his plan for free marriage licenses for couples that do premarital counseling.

We can only guess how Chisum would apply the Bible, the next step past Bible as literature, to this counseling about a legally secular institution.

It's not only intrusion into private lives, as the newspaper story said; knowing Chisum, it's another attempt to tear down the First Amendment wall separating church and state.

Plus, a two-year wait on divorce for non-covenant marrieds might fall under some version of prior restraint, restraint of trade, or similar, on its constitutionality - not that that would stop Chisum, or even cross his mind.

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