I have on my desk two books I find

indispensable in thinking (and writing) about what the court fight over gay

marriage means: the two-volume collection of essays published as “The End of

Democracy?” — published by Spence, and available really cheaply (less than

$15 for both volumes) from their website.

These are the essays and responses first published in First Things magazine,

in which the matter of whether or not the “judicial usurpation of politics”

meant that we were approaching a point at which ours had become a “tyrant

state” devoid of legitimacy. There are lots of great arguments on both sides

from contributors like Robert Bork, Robbie George, Hadley Arkes, Russ

Hittinger, Bill Kristol, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Ramesh Ponnuru, the editors of NR,

and others. The heart of this debate was Roe v. Wade, but everything said

here applies to the gay marriage issue squarely before us now. Very, very

timely, these collections.