by Mona Charen

About the author: Mona Charen is a nationally syndicated columnist.

The Hawaii Supreme Court could, if it rules in favor of same-sex marriages, plunge the United States into a constitutional pickle. [A Hawaiian trial court ruled in December 1996 that Hawaii could not prohibit gay couples from receiving marriage licenses.]

The full faith and credit clause of the Constitution reads as follows: "Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State." At first glance, that would seem to seal the case. If gay marriages become valid in Hawaii, then gay couples from around the nation could fly there, be married and return home as husband and husband, or wife and wife, and the other 49 states would be obliged to recognize those marriages as valid...