Drivers Licenses and Gay Marriages - Term Paper Example

 Driver’s Licenses and Gay Marriages Abstract The paper generally discusses the issue of full faith and credit with relation to gay marriages and their provision in the constitution. In the paper, there is a clear explanation of the issues that affect this constitutional law and the manner through which it is perceived in various states. Moreover, the paper discusses the issue of licenses and the role that the courts have in their implementation. Moreover, there is discussion of the impact of the various laws stated in this section of the constitution. Actual Wording In 1738, shortly after the drafting of the constitution, various readings were incorporated into the constitution with an effort to run the country in a much more effective manner. One of the major clauses brought in was the Full Faith and Credit Clause. Despite this, many people did pay attention to the rules provided by the constitution and ended up living their lives in a freestyle manner. As years went by and as civilization took its course, there was the necessity to change various sections of the clause and also incorporate different factors to ensure that the United States was in line with the changes. In the year 1992, the Huwaii court held a proceeding where it was in a state of confusion not knowing what to do after a complaint was made concerning gay people and their associations. This factor made the court remain in a baffled state, as it had to make a ruling based on the constitution. However, back then, the constitution did not provide any given rules concerning the gay community (Yalof, 2011). In the following year, there was the drafting of the Huwaii Statute that ensured there was restriction of gay marriages or organizations in the state. Initially, every state had to respect all types of marriages carried out in other states. However, this act ensured that despite the location of the marriage, no gay union would have a place in the state. The defense of marriage act was enacted in the year 1996 by congress. This came as a delight to very many states that had tried opposing the existence of gay marriages in their states but did not have as much freedom as Huwaii when carrying out judgments. The act stated that marriage was a union between a man and a woman. Furthermore, the act ensured that the judges were independent enough to make rulings on whether to allow gay couples to reside in their states or not. When Congress passed that ruling, there was a lot of complains from various gay married people already existing. This is because they thought that they would be forced to divorce or else get chased from that state and go to states where the marriages were legal. The gay community and the organizations that supported the gay community constantly went to court in an effort to have the constitution ratified to support them and consequently have the gay people rights observed. As soon as congress had passed that ruling, it was identified that 39 states passed internal laws and had the courts stop all forms of gay unions (Alex, 2008). This step was taken with a lot of praise from the average people and especially the religious community. Churches and other religions supported the court decisions and ensured that these people followed the new amendments made to the constitution. One of the states that later on got a sense of relief from the issue of gay marriages is that of Oklahoma. In the year 2006, an appeal was made by a federal court. The appeal stated that a gay marriage with a child would have the advantage of maintaining the kid as long as the adoptive parents took the three birth certificates to the required offices. Louisiana was another state that went lenient on the issue of gay marriages and the identification of this is clear from a case carried out in the month of April in the year 2011. The apparent judgment of this case ended up with a gay couple having the ability to maintain their rights as gay and have the freedom of marriage. From there on, any judgment that did not support the gay community would have the initial case questioned and would show the liability of the court system. It was thus important to have the gay community free to live and even marry in the state. Without the 1996 act, gay couples had the ability to move to states where gay marriages were allowed and then would marry and go back home. However, with the implementation of this act, it was clear that if a gay couple wanted to get married, they would do so and have to live in the state where they had got married. With return to their original home after marriage and continue with the union, they would be breaking the federal law which is punishable (Alex, 2008). In the year 2003, Congress passed a legislation that affected all types of marriages in the United States. In this legislation, it denied federal courts the right to question the rules set forth by the Defense of Marriage Act. The legislation was a major step towards the reduction of the multiple cases brought into courts by different organizations that sort to support the gay community. Many organizations, even gay individuals, and existing couples had made their way into courts over the previous 7 years with the aim of having courts understand their situation and get out of its way to let the couples be. Despite the multiple cases brought into question, courts were at times obliged to give a ruling with support of the gay community. By the year 2000, cases had escalated whereby it seemed that federal courts no longer paid attention to the Defense of Marriage Act and was acting in a manner through which was a bleach of the constitution. Senate sat down and analyzed different cases that had led to these and consequently decided that they would not allow meaningless cases to go to courts. Moreover, judges were warned against offering a case hearing to these people in situations that did not seem legitimate in terms of cause. This is stated clearly by a section of the constitution that clearly has it “No court created by Act of Congress shall have any jurisdiction, and the Supreme Court shall have no appellate jurisdiction, to hear or decide any question pertaining to the interpretation of, or the validity under the Constitution of, section 1738C or this section.” (Alex, 2008) In order to review the issue of processing and issuing of driving licenses in America in general, it is essential to arrive to a conclusive definition of what exactly the term driving license refers to. A drivers license is an official document that indicates and is endorsed by relevant parties to authorize any one individual to legally operate motor machinery, such as cars, trucks, motorcycles as well as any other motor vehicle liable to fall into this category, provided that all necessary requirements prior to the authorization are met (Yalof, 2011). As the research tends to explain, it is vividly revealed from where the rules of driving licenses emerged from and how they have continued to change over time. Systematic research shows much more detail, all relevant to the driving license issue, stretching from matters concerning the procedures governing the issuance of this very important legal document to matters controlling to what extent this document can be used as per today. Digging deep into history reveals that the first person issued with an official driver’s license was a famous man, who behind the invention of the modern automobile, Karl Benz. This was back in the year 1888, long before technology evolved to what it is now. Many would want to know the reason behind why Karl Benz had to be issued with a driver’s license in the first place: and the reason would be pretty simple, much to the dismay of many (Yalof, 2011). Karl Benz requested and was later to receive written permission, from the Grand Ducal authorities that gave him legal mandate to operate his car on public roads. It had to stretch to the extent of reaching involvement of the concerned authorities, after reported complaints by the citizens residing around his area of automobile operation, who complained of excessive noise from his vehicle and the polluting smell that it produced while under operation. To date, drivers’ licenses in the United States are issued independently by each individual state as opposed to the case and procedures followed in the early days. One of the main reasons behind the transition from the system used to control and exercise the issuing of driving licenses in the 19th century to the system currently in place is the political concept of federalism. It put a stop to control and issuance of the same by the federal government, giving independent state mandate to issue their own, though exercising that power only to lengths allowed by the constitution. As of now, the constitution governing the United States of America requires every driver within the country to obtain a driver’s license, specifically, from his or her state of residence (Alexis, 2009). It however goes lenient on the issue, providing that all states be bound to recognize each other’s licenses in cases of temporary visitors to other states, though subject to observance of all necessary requirements. States could stretch their power over this issue to suspension of individuals driving privileges within boarders that it governs, because of broken rules, in terms of traffic violation. This was not the case however, as at the time the driving license laws and policies were introduced. Over a long period of time, America’s constitution provided that the federal government mandated the whole format as well as procedures used in the issuing of drivers licenses throughout America. Drivers licenses by then used a similar format to issue this documents, all the way to use of drivers licenses with more or less similar information content and security features, just but to mention a few. By then, it was much easier to run the country in order, taking to consideration that automobiles were not as common as they are today, and so were the instances that would have required presentation of the driver’s licenses as a legal document. When it was realized that population growth was on the rise in the United States of America, and so were the instances requiring provision of one’s driver’s license off the roads, it became necessary for amendment of the constitution to provide for a simpler alternative to curb the increased use of the document (Yalof, 2011). With the amendment of the American constitution, came delegation of the role to provide and issue drivers licenses to individual states. It had continued to prove difficult for the federal government to see to it that drivers’ licenses circulated the country, following all right procedures. In a move to curb this and ensure the smooth flow and running of the rising traffic related issues, states acquired the independence to head these operations. Originating Circumstances With regard to the Defense of Marriage Act, it is important to understand and appreciate the major reasons as to why it was drafted in the first place. One of the major catalysts towards this was the amount of pressure that Bill Clinton, the president of the United States had got from different groups of people. The president had been told that having gay marriages in the country was one thing that would affect the social and political relations that the country shares with the outside world. This is from the fact that different people and nations have their own notions concerning gay marriages. Many of the countries that the United States deals with have very many thoughts and differences concerning the issue. It is apparent that most of these countries do not support the issue of gay marriages and thus the relations with the United States would become sensitive (Jeffrey, 2012). Many of them would seize having relations with the country due to the fear of getting this culture incorporated into their system. Analysts stated that this would have a rather deep effect on the economy of the country that was at a rather harsh place at the time. Anti gay movements started in the United States around the year 1993. This was from the Huwaii case mentioned above that threw many states into confusion and later on made a unilateral decision about the gays. Around that time, gay marriages were open and anyone would work on that. However, many groups started coming up stating how disgusting it was to have two men or even women in a relationship. It was even considered socially awkward by the Mayor of New York at the time (Jeffrey, 2012). Religious leaders also had a great role to play in the proposal of the Defense of Marriage Act. Very many leaders often quoted verses that showed how illegal it was to have same sex marriages. This was from the fact that many of them had extended teachings of their religious books and thus a lot of insight on the matter. This made sure that they educated their leaders and consequently the guilt of not following in the teachings of the bible caught up with them and thus the changes. This was not a major factor influencing the drafting of the law but nonetheless requires credit. It is important to identify the fact that countries such as Canada inspired the United States to make the changes in the constitution after it had banned several of its provinces from having these marriages. A major contributor to the delegation of states to run the issuing of driving licenses was that Federal Government driving licenses lay obstacles to state governments. Issuing of drivers license was a long federal procedure, to revoke individuals driving licenses due to abuse of laws governing traffic that reduced the speed as well as the effectiveness of states to monitor their roads and traffic in general. More federal involvement only meant that there was increased bureaucracy and consequently, further distance between the government and the relevant citizens, and thus, increased chances of unnoticed and unpunished broken rules (Yalof, 2011). Similarly, if the Federal Government had continued to exercise their rue over drivers licensing, there would have resulted to increased backlogs that are witnessed to-date, in sectors headed by the government. The federal government would be faced by a great hassle while in effort to run this process and keep in close contact with millions of drivers who reside in America to-date. As a result, the government would end up putting up with huge costs to maintain calm and a smooth flow in this sector that would have little or no guarantee of success. Meaning for Administrative Practice and/or the Making of Public Policy While some would consider it sensible to have the Federal government take over licensing of driver and issuing of official driver license, some would consider it a bit wiser to leave this to the individual states. Leaving it to individual states is one way through which the states tend to generate revenue, from which the residents and not only those who drive, get to benefit from at least in one way or another. Concerning the issue of marriages and the constitution, very many practices are affected by this and one of them is the clothing industry where it is hard now to purchase gay clothes without judging. This policy has always been hard to go through and thus the differences witnessed between different people in the industry concerning the enactment of the constitution. Summary With all these roles left to the government, realization of any benefits by the citizens would be traced and by some chance, increased levels of corruption and other unlawful practices would be noticed. States would divert the income generated to fund state programs that benefit a huge percentage of the society thus making it necessary to have a limit to roles of the Federal Government when it comes to licensing issues, as well as equal out matters between the government and the individual states. Executive Summary Students should gain an understanding of the United States constitution from the research. This is from the fact that the insight that it gives helps all types of people understand the struggles that the gay community goes through. Moreover, people may find the United States constitution as unfair, the paper helps one understand the various milestones that the country has had, and the steps involved in the change of the various clauses of the constitution. Moreover, it assists one to understand the reasons as to why the changes were made to the constitution and when this happened. With regard to the issue of driving licenses, the paper goes through the changes made to the constitution concerning the issue and the differences that people and organizations have had in the area. Historical prospects are mentioned and their contemporary impacts explained on the issue. It is thus important to go through the paper and understand these two main aspects. References Yalof, D. (2011). American Government: Historical, Popular and Global Perspectives. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers. Alexis, T. (2009). Democracy in America. New York: Cengage Learning. Jeffrey, H. (2012). Tying the Knot. Advocate. 9(1055). Pg 20-23. Alex, R. (2008). A Populist Argument for Legalizing Same Sex Marriages. Monist. 7(88). Pg 74- 76. Read More