Tuesday’s vote by the United States House of Representatives is on a bill which would enshrine federal protections in place for equality in marriage throughout the country. The bill was born out of concerns about a recent Supreme Court ruling in which one justice suggested that such protections should not be reexamined.
Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurring opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson — the Supreme Court decision in June that undid nearly 50 years of abortion rights protections established in Roe v. Wade — said he believed that the Dobbs ruling should also lead the Court to “reconsider all … substantive due process precedents,” including in cases, such as Griswold v. Connecticut(Right to contraceptives). Lawrence v. Texas (right to private adult relationships, including those with same-sex partners) Obergefell v. Hodges — a 2015 ruling from the High Court that established federal marriage rights for same-sex couples.
Thomas claims the Court has a duty to “correct the error” that was supposedly established in these cases. That statement from the Court’s longest-tenured justice, as also the controversial manner in which Justice Samuel Alito and other conservative justices undid Roe, prompted lawmakers to craft the Respect for Marriage ActA bill that codifies marriage equality protections as they are currently recognized in Obergefell.
The new bill would officially repeal a 1990s law called the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which said that the federal government would only recognize marriages between one man and one woman, and further stipulated that the marriage laws of one state (including same-sex marriages) don’t have to be recognized by another state. Since the repeal of that law, it has not been enforced. Obergefell However, the decision is technically still on the books and could again be enforced if the Supreme Court dismantles marriage equality rights in the same way that it dismantled protections for abortion.
The Respect for Marriage Act was also repealed. would also require states to recognize same-sex marriages from other statesIn the event that the Supreme Court reverses its decision Obergefell.
“The Supreme Court’s extremist and precedent-ignoring decision in Dobbs v. Jackson has shown us why it is critical to ensure that federal law protects those whose constitutional rights might be threatened by Republican-controlled state legislatures,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) said on Monday.
Nancy Pelosi (D.California), Speaker of the House also said that it was necessary for the bill to pass, as “extremist Justices and lawmakers” plan to “take aim at more of our basic rights.”
It’s expected that the bill will pass in the House — however, it’s unclear as of right now whether the Senate will also pass the legislation. Monday’s bill will be passed by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, the first out lesbian senator, and Sen. Dianne Weinstein (D.California). introduced the bill in that chamberTogether with Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine, he was elected to the Senate.
“I take great pride in being a part of this bipartisan effort to protect the progress we have made on marriage equality, because we cannot allow this freedom and right to be denied,” Baldwin said in a statement regarding the legislation.
The Senate has bipartisan support for the bill, but it is unlikely enough Republicans will unite with Democrats to defeat a Senate Filibuster. Senate legislation requires 60 senators to pass. To reach that threshold, at least 10 Republicans and every senator who caucuses alongside the Democrats are required.
