Is it just me, or is this a big deal?

Realizing that a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage faces little chance of passing soon, if ever, House Republicans yesterday discussed alternative approaches, including stripping federal courts of jurisdiction over the issue, passing a federal law to define marriage and using the appropriations process to ban gay marriage in Washington....

Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) told reporters yesterday that he plans to use “jurisdiction stripping” measures to achieve other social policy goals as well....

The U.S. Constitution establishes only the Supreme Court but leaves it to Congress to “ordain and establish” the lower federal courts. Arguably, therefore, Congress has the right determine the federal courts’ jurisdiction.

“That [Supreme Court] building is the Taj Mahal. Everybody should stay away from it,” he said about Congress’s past unwillingness to challenge Supreme Court decisions.

DeLay said the time is “not quite ripe” to apply the GOP’s new legislative tactics to the issue of abortion. [Emph. added.]

For those who feel up to it, the rest is here.

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