Earlier today, federal district judge Martin Feldman issued a ruling that cogently rejects a challenge to Louisiana’s marriage laws. Among other things, Judge Feldman concludes that rational-basis scrutiny applies to plaintiffs’ Equal Protection and Due Process Claims and that Louisiana’s laws amply satisfy rational-basis review. Invoking principles of federalism and democracy, Feldman declines to follow those courts that, in a “pageant of empathy,” “appear to have assumed the mantle of a legislative body.”