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What's out of context?
I don't think the rational basis test has yet devolved so far that it simply means "any bizzaro basis upon which the state's discriminatory whims rest." That would be more like the Any Basis Whether Rational Or Irrational Test, right? The whole point of the test is to limit discrimination against groups of people (groups that don't receive heightened protection) to distinctions that make sense, distinctions that don't flow solely from a desire to punish a group or to express the majority's dislike of said group. Judge Smith took the coward's way out and I hope someday he'll be ashamed of himself, if he isn't already. A judge with integrity (see Judith Kaye) wouldn't be afraid to point out the obvious lack of rationality behind the restriction of marriage to heterosexual couples. Instead, the majority twists itself into impossible logical knots in an attempt, this cynic argues, to eschew the label of "activist."
