County Judge Atherton Is A Genius

Posted: 9/5/2015

Trigger

Just read Tenn. judge refuses to grant straight couple a divorce because … gay marriage (Source 1)

I immediately was delighted when I read this article about this courageous county judge in Tennessee, i.e. Jeffrey M. Atherton of Hamilton county!

Here is another article, with even more excerpts from Atherton’s decision Chattanooga Judge Dismisses Divorce Complaint, Citing U.S. Supreme Court Ruling On Gay Marriage; Atherton Hits "Judi-idiocracy" With Its "Iron Fist and Limp Wrist" (Source 2)

Quotes From The Articles

Here are some quotes from the articles (emphasis added):

1. “Last week, a Tenn. judge refused to grant a straight couple a divorce because the U.S. Supreme Court allowed gay marriage.” (1)
2. ““The Tennessee Court of Appeals has noted that Obergefell v. Hodges … affected what is, and must be recognized as, a lawful marriage in the State of Tennessee,” Atherton began. “This leaves a mere trial level Tennessee state court judge in a bit of a quandary. With the U.S. Supreme Court having defined what must be recognized as a marriage, it would appear that Tennessee's judiciary must now await the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court as to what is not a marriage, or better stated, when a marriage is no longer a marriage.”” (1)
3. ““The majority’ s opinion in Obergefell, regardless of its patronizing and condescending verbiage, is now the law of the land, accurately described by Justice Scalia as ‘a naked judicial claim to legislative— indeed, super-legislative— power,'” Atherton continued.
   The Supreme Court’s decision was “troubling” because it amounted to a “judicial fiat,” Atherton argued. “” (1)
4. ““To say the least, Tenn. Const. art. XI, § 18,” which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, “having been adopted by the people of the State of Tennessee in 2006 as reflecting the will, desire, public policy and law of this State, and to be applied by its judiciary, seems a bit on the incompatible side with the U.S. Supreme Court’ s ruling,” he opined. “One would think that if the U.S. Supreme Court intended to overturn all or part of a state’ s constitution, it would do so expressly, rather than by implication.”” (1)
5. “"The conclusion reached by this court is that Tennesseans, corporately, have been deemed by the U.S. Supreme Court to be incompetent to define and address such keystone/central institutions such as marriage and, thereby, at minimum, contested divorces. Consequently, since only our federal courts are wise enough to address the issues of marriage - and therefore contested divorces - it only follows that this court's jurisdiction has been preempted.” (2)

Leading By Example

This is a beautiful case of civil disobedience!

Kudos to judge Atherton! We hope other judges will follow his example!