5-4

As you know, our somewhat balmy Supreme Court recently ruled in overturning DOMA that gays and lesbians are, in effect, human beings. I was heartened by their bold move despite the narrowness of the vote, which was not unprecedented. I refer, of course, to a similar 5-4 vote that made George Washington eligible to serve as President. You may recall the case, the Original Tea Party vs. George Washington, in which the Tea Party insisted that Washington was ineligible because he had not been born in the United States. He was a British citizen by birth. According to the Constitution, no person is eligible to serve as President except a natural born citizen or a citizen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. It's obvious that as the Constitution was being gradually passed by the states, the United States had not quite been invented. Washington had remained a British citizen until after the nation was invented. At that point he became an immigrant. On paper he was ineligible. Then, as now, the Supreme Court had many nincompoop judges, but common sense prevailed, although my wife claims I made all this up. Washington became President. Gays and Lesbians have become people by virtue of a single vote. Makes you proud, eh?