Who Actually Makes The Laws ?

This article is based on two sources--an article at Boston.com yesterday and an Associated Press article at CBS News yesterday.  Both stories report that Judge Joseph L. Tauro, a federal district court judge in Boston, ruled yesterday that "the federal Defense of Marriage law violates the Constitutional right of married same-sex couples to equal protection under the law and upends the federal government's long history of allowing states to set their own marriage laws."

I'm not interested in going into whether or not same-sex marriage should be legal, but I am amazed by how this whole thing is unfolding.  Same-sex marriage was never voted on by the people of Massachusetts.  The proper number of signatures were collected to put the issue on the ballot, but through political gamesmanship, it was never put on the ballot and voted on.  Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts as a result of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health in 2004.  It was never voted on by the people of the state or legislated by elected officials.  The Defense of Marriage Act was passed (by elected officials) in 1996, specifically stating that states would not be obligated to recognized same-sex marriages performed in other states.  Now a judge is ready to throw out a law passed by elected officials and support a law that was enacted by unelected judges.  

Fast forward to the Arizona Immigration Law.  The Arizona Immigration Law was legally passed by the Arizone legislature and signed by the governor of Arizona.  The Arizona law is in harmony with federal laws regarding illegal immitration.  The Obama Administration is suing the state of Arizona, claiming that the law is unconstitutional.  If the left is willing to override a legally passed federal law with a state law that was never voted on, why are they not willing to support a state law that is in harmony with federal law? 

One of the building blocks to a free country is an organized system of laws.  I really don't think the founding fathers ever envisioned laws that were passed by judges having more authority than laws legally passed by elected officials.