The senators dodge.(support for, debate over Federal Marriage Amendment, legalization of same-sex marriages)

ONE of the great political strengths of the liberal coalition is its ability to use the courts to get its way. Its politicians do not have to stick their necks out for unpopular elements of the liberal agenda. The courts take care of those issues. Conservatives who want to counter this maneuver are forced to take desperate measures.

So it was in the Senate's debate over the Federal Marriage Amendment. Ted Kennedy was just about the only senator to say that he actually favored same-sex marriage. Most Democrats claimed that they opposed it--but also opposed doing anything to stop the courts from imposing it. Some liberal gay activists may have resented the Democrats' failure to stand forthrightly with them. But most of them don't mind. They are canny enough to know that if they are going to win on marriage, they will win in the courts, not in legislatures.

Most opponents of the FMA insisted that a constitutional amendment was not necessary. John McCain, another professed opponent of same-sex marriage, insisted that the Defense of Marriage Act would keep same-sex marriage from being imposed on any state. But that act is very limited in scope: It attempts merely to guarantee that states do not have to recognize other states' same-sex marriages. It did not keep the high court of Massachusetts from imposing same-sex marriage, and would not block the other 49 state judiciaries from following its lead. It would not keep the Supreme Court from imposing same-sex marriage on the whole nation, either. McCain's argument is a way for politicians to say that an amendment is premature all the way until the time when same-sex marriage has become a fait accompli.

Nor is there any guarantee that the Defense of Marriage Act, weak as it is, will survive. Hillary Clinton said that the act "has not even been challenged at the federal level." Her statement was incorrect: Already two federal courts are hearing challenges to the act.

Several opponents of the FMA insisted that the amendment would enshrine bigotry. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Pat Leahy were among those who argued that it would make homosexuals "second-class citizens." But if that is the case, it must be that any opposition to same-sex marriage is bigoted and discriminatory. Lautenberg and Leahy should be ...