When a baby is born, a mother always is nearby. The question is whether a father will be involved in the life of that child and, if so, for how long. Marriage increases the odds that a man will be committed to both the children that he helps create and to the woman with whom he does so. The recent oral arguments at the Supreme Court highlighted this and other key…

Amid all the emotion over same-sex marriage, the limited-government argument for marriage as uniting a man and a woman keeps getting short shrift. It fell to me to make that case during a discussion of marriage law and the Supreme Court with the worthy S.E. Cupp on a recent installment of “Real News from The Blaze,” and I’d like to flesh out those thoughts here. For…

We’re having a robust national debate over whether marriage should be redefined to include same-sex relationships. It’s an important debate. And in many ways — despite what some activists say — it’s only beginning. Whatever the outcome of the Supreme Court’s deliberations, the only thing that’s inevitable is this: Americans will keep talking about marriage well into the…

“Pediatrics Group Backs Gay Marriage, Saying It Helps Children,” proclaims a headline in the New York Times. But the advocacy group presented no new studies, no new data, to support this claim. And the studies the group cites have been shown to be insufficient to come to this conclusion about same-sex parenting.   Turns out the press release, picked up nationwide, was…

Americans respect marriage, not only as a crucial institution of civil society but the fundamental building block of all human civilization. This is why 41 states and the federal government affirm that marriage is between a man and a woman. But these laws are on the line. Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in cases that challenge the…

Editor's note: this piece is co-authored by Sherif Girgis and Robert P. George. The attractive civil rights rhetoric of "marriage equality" masks a profound error about what marriage is. Of course, if marriage were simply about recognizing bonds of affection or romance, then two men or two women could form a marriage just as a man and woman can. But so could three or…

When the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) later this month, many casual observers will focus on what they call the fairness of redefining marriage. Interestingly, though, the dispute at the heart of the DOMA case could have been avoided had Congress enacted fairer tax reform years ago. Consider the facts:…

The deeply controversial, sometimes raucous marriage debate soon will be settled once and for all. Public opinion is swaying toward redefining marriage. And at the end of this month, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases challenging state and federal laws that define marriage as one man and one woman. The nationwide creation of same-sex marriage seems all…

Editor's note: This article was co-authored by Robert George and Sherif Girgis In our new book What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense, we make a rational case for the historic understanding of marriage as a conjugal relationship -- a union of a man and a woman at every level (mind, heart, andbody), inherently oriented to family life. We show how the common good…

This week’s Ricochet posts on marriage have made a sustained argument about what marriage is and why marriage matters. For a more detailed treatment of these issues, look to my new book, co-authored with Sherif Girgis and Robert P. George, What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense. Monday’s post pointed out that long before there was a debate about same-sex marriage,…

Yesterday’s post explained government’s policy interest in marriage. Government needs to get marriage policy right, because it shapes the norms associated with this most fundamental relationship. Redefining marriage would abandon the norm of male-female sexual complementarity as an essential characteristic of marriage. Making that optional would also make other…

Yesterday’s post focused on what marriage is. Today’s explores why the government recognizes marriage in the first place. As my co-authors and I argue in our new book, What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense, virtually every political community has regulated male-female sexual relationships. Why? Not because government cares about romance as such. It cares about…