The U.S. government should not — nay, cannot — be in the business of discrimination.

When it affords rights and privileges to one class of individuals — estate rights, tax statuses, etc. — it cannot withhold them from another.

So it’s pretty clear the U.S. Supreme Court should strike down the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 as capricious abridgements of liberty.

It should go further, end the ambiguity, and establish a constitutional right to same-sex marriage that would apply to all 50 states.

Your views may vary. Feel free to abhor homosexuality. But in a legal sense, there is nothing about allowing gay people to marry that deprives you of your personal liberty.

Conservatives, especially, should be wary when government seeks legal grounds to limit the personal pursuit of happiness.