Krauthammer's Take on Same-Sex Marriage Ruling: It's a 'Good Outcome

Charles Krauthammer (FILE)

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer thinks the Supreme Courts ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act as being unconstitutional was a "good outcome."

"It allows popular sentiments on gay marriage to translate themselves democratically into law," he wrote in an op-ed Friday. "Which in turn allows, in contradistinction to abortion, a political settlement of the question state by state. It may not satisfy everyone, but it does give everyone a voice in the disposition of the issue and a sense of the legitimacy of the outcome."

The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the federal government cannot prevent same-sex married couples from receiving federal marriage benefits. It did not dictate that all states must allow same-sex marriage.

In the op-ed Krauthammer argued that the nature of the court's ruling on DOMA was the exact opposite of its decision on Roe v. Wade. "That judicial fiat swept away every state abortion law that did not conform to the court’s idea of what abortion law should be," he wrote, adding later, "The Roe ruling removed abortion from the political arena, thus disenfranchising the citizenry, tainting the resolution of the question and leaving us with 40 years of social strife."

Krauthammer argued additionally, however, the court's opinion on DOMA "planted the seed for going Roe next time." ("Going Roe" meaning: rule that it is unconstitutional on the state level to discriminate between straight and gay married couples.)

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