Abstract
No one is checking a historical trend as disturbing as anything else because our attention is focused on other injustices that surround us 24/7. No doubt, judicial power has grown quietly and discreetly over time. Federal judges seem to have the power to overturn state bans against gay marriage when state legislatures create laws defining marriage as that between a heterosexual man and woman. That seems like an expansion of the civil rights of a particular minority group in society, such as same-sex couples, and therefore something positive in the American experience.