Iowa high court has history of smart rulings

Add mine to the many letters of congratulation to the state for its Supreme Court decision that banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

Our nation's high courts have been the real protectors of our civil liberties. Yes, they've occasionally been wrong, but, by and large, they've protected us against the depredations of the hypocrites and busybodies who insist on foisting upon us their values based in ignorance.

Far from “making up” law, the courts are directed by the Constitution to scrutinize our laws for consistency with state and federal constitutions.

It's worth listing again the reasons I've been proud to be an Iowan every day of the almost 50 years I've been a resident: The Iowa Supreme Court ruled against slavery well before the Civil War (1839); ruled separate but equal schools to be unconstitutional almost 100 years before Brown vs. Board of Education; struck down segregation in public accommodations (1873); and the Iowa State Bar Association was first in the United States to admit women to practice law (1869).

I came from California just after the national anti-communist hysteria of the '50s. That state among others passed a law that all state employees must sign a loyalty oath to the United States. I can add to the list of Iowa's sensible, honorable behavior that such a move never got off the ground here.

Eugene Spaziani

Iowa City