So this guy probably married child abusers or other criminals but as long as they were all white or black.

There are racist crackers in Louisiana! OMG!

The parallel arguments against interracial marriages and same sex marriages are striking. Banning interracial marriages isn't discriminatory because each "race" is free to marry other members of its "race". Banning same sex marriages isn't discriminatory because everyone is free to marry someone of the opposite sex. The ban isn't for the couple, but for the children.

I would hope this seeming anachronism would serve as a teaching moment in which we could all reflect on what equality and freedom really mean in this country.

I can only imagine the suffering of mixed race children, living on the fringes of our society with no hope of ever becoming a billionaire golfer or president of a large North American country.

An article about this was linked on Drudge. So, of course, the comments were overflowing with wingnuttery. In light of the recent Carville study that he felt found that conservatives are not motivated by racism (just a tendency to believe insane conspiracy theories), I was just about to indefinitely withhold suspicion that conservatives are often racist.

Until I read the comments on that article linked by Drudge.

Derek Jeter and his charmed life might just blow his mind.

Oh, and if you have to say "I'm not a racist, but...", you are most likely a racist.

Uh, what did he do about interracial people who wanted to get married? Whether to someone of one of their own ancestries, or to another interracial person?

My guess is that he's OK with octoroons, as long as they can pass for white, but that he draws the line at quadroons.

The Supreme Court has held that courts cannot use the "children" to justify racially based custody decisions. The case was Palmore v Sidotti. A Florida court modified a custody order that originally gave custody to the mother (white) after she started "cohabitating" with a black man. The father (white) got custody under the modified order on the grounds that social stigma would harm the child. The Supreme Court reversed. I doubt that Bardwell has read many (or even cares about) Supreme Court cases!

To lose his judgeship for breaking the law.

A justice of the peace is legally obligated to serve the public under the law, he refuses to do that....goodbye, time to find a new job.

"I’m not obligated to do that just because I’m a justice of the peace."

He says that as a justice of the peace he's not obligated to do interracial marriages. But isn't his job to follow the laws his state dictate? And if the laws say that interracial people can get married, and he won't marry them, isn't he breaking a law? As a justice of the peace for the state of Louisiana, he IS obligated to marry interracial couples. Am I correct in my assumption?

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Up here in Salon who constantly whine that they "Can't criticize Obama without somebody playing the race card".

ROFL

Why don't all you racists just come out and declare your racism already. Go ahead and call Obama a nigger in public. You know you want to, and we'll all feel better once you drop the charade and admit that you hate black people.

is more qualified to know what's best for future potential children than their own future potential parents would know.

Sorry, sir, as an agent of the government you are bound by its laws, including the discrimination ones.

A good rule of thumb(and I'm paraphrasing John Cleese here): When a person says "I'm not a racist, but..." substitute that with "I AM a racist, AND..."

@ Unbannable Bastard: I agree. You know they are just DYING to say it... they certainly say it in private. They are going to have a collective stroke from the effort of NOT saying it, soon.

... there's something wistfully nostalgic about this guy's stance. It's almost as if the 1980's-2000's have passed him by. Not that I think that his ass shouldn't be fired over this, but the fact that this is noteworthy, rather than expected behavior, is a reminder of how far most people (even in the South) have been dragged, kicking and screaming though it may be, into modernity. And that's a good thing...

Over 40 years ago, the Supreme Court explicitly rejected the legal "theories" Bardwell advances. He is acting in defiance of the Constitution. This is grounds for removal. The judicial ethical rules in most states also require that judges treat parties impartially -- which means not to judge them based on racial stereotypes. More importantly, Bardwell has basically stated that he will resign before changing his stance. I hope he lives up to his word!

So he's deciding not to marry interracial couples? What other laws won't he enforce? Traffic tickets his buddies get? He's a jp - he doesn't get to choose which laws he obeys. What an embarrassment to Louisiana and the south.

does this pecker wood come from huh Festus?

Getting married in Louisiana is a two-step process. You go to the parish courthouse or whatever official office in your parish handles these matters and you pay your fee and get your license to marry. Then you have to wait at least 72 hours, and then you go get married by a preacher or a rabbi or a JP or what-have-you. I don't think (and I could be wrong here) that a JP in Louisiana is obligated to perform marriages he disagrees with (or perform any marriages at all) any more than a preacher or a rabbi is.

That said, the bastard's a racist, backwards asshole.