Legislators, not Iowa Supreme Court, should change Iowa Constitution

My dictionary defines marriage as “the institution whereby men and women are joined in a special kind of social and legal dependence for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family.” I suppose that is because I do not have the latest dictionary as rewritten by the Iowa Supreme Court.

When the Iowa Legislature, speaking on behalf of the voters of Iowa, passed a law defining marriage, they were confirming the status quo to eliminate all doubt. They did not do so to remove a constitutional right that had previously existed.

I do a lot of genealogical research and I have never seen a marriage license that did not have space for the name of one man and one woman. Many of us believe that what the Iowa Supreme Court did was to change the definition of the word marriage and create a new right that had never existed. Does precedent or long practice play no part here?

If the Iowa Constitution is to be changed, should that not be done by the people of Iowa through their legislators, not by the Iowa Supreme Court?

Merrill Ludvigson

Cedar Rapids