Obey the law? What a novel concept!

The California Supreme Court have discovered the rule of law.

The upshot of this decision is that for now, at least, gay marriage is dead in California. The 7-0 smackdown the Cali Supremes delivered to Mayor Gavin Newsom is about as strong a "hell no" that can be delivered by words. Even liberal justices can read the text of a law.

At least five seem to be able to reason, as well. They correctly deduced that if a marriage is performed without legal authority, then it is null and void. A couple of justices couldn't resist the urge to impose their superior wisdom on the California electorate, but for now, sanity reigns.

However, there's a Machivellian part of me that thinks they did this only to defuse the issue for the time being. Had they followed their hearts instead of their heads, they would have struck down California's marriage law as unconstitutional. But that would have stirred up a political hornet's nest in the state, and possibly given President Bush a powerful issue to use against John Kerry. Better to wait until next May, when no one is paying any attention.

Then they'll be free to return to their regularly-scheduled legislating.