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But I think that some states have had their laws ignored by some courts.

Isn't the issue that the laws have been ruled unconstitutional? I had the impression that judges were supposed to "not like laws" if those laws contravene constitutional rights, constitutional guarantees of equality, and that this part of a judge's job was a cherished "check and balance" in case of the legislature overstepping its constitutional mark.

It's an interesting debate to follow from this side of the pond, because UK judges have only recently acquired similar powers -- overturning laws not because they're "unconstitutional" as such, as there is no constitution, but overturning them because they contradict the Human Rights Act and/or European human rights treaties. This has caused a certain amount of political fracas, and interestingly it's again mainly the Right who are objecting to this judicial oversight.

Peter