The United States Senate passed the ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ with bipartisan support after a 62-37 vote in favor of the bill on Wednesday. Wisconsin senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin voted against and in favor of the bill, respectively.
Johnson’s decision on the bill came after recent contradicting statements, first saying he had no reason to oppose the bill, then saying he would oppose it due to religious concerns, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Meanwhile, Baldwin, the country’s first ever openly gay senator, has been one of the bill’s biggest supporters. Baldwin, alongside senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (D-Maine), introduced the bill to the Senate in July and has been a sponsor of it since.
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The bill would repeal and replace provisions in the Constitution that “define, for purposes of federal law, marriage as between a man and a woman and spouse as a person of the opposite sex with provisions that recognize any marriage that is valid under state law.”
This move comes after the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the ruling in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion under the right to privacy and had stood for decades.
After overturning Dobbs, the Supreme Court ruled that citizens do not have the right to an abortion and laid the groundwork for an argument that says all cases that recognize the right to privacy are vulnerable to being overturned, University of Wisconsin american politics and political theory professor, Howard Schweber said. This bill is likely Congress’s response to that decision.
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The bill seems to be an effort from Congress to get ahead of another decision from the Supreme Court like Dobbs — though, even if it were to become law, the Respect for Marriage Act could still be susceptible to the treatment Roe v. Wade received, Schweber said.
The Supreme Court solidified the right to marriage regardless of sex with its ruling in the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015. The Due Process Clause of the 14th amendment was the primary source of reasoning for the decision, much like in many cases that upheld the ruling in Roe v. Wade.
Schweber mentioned that the Respect for Marriage Act would likely be signed into law due to its bipartisan support and Democratic President Joe Biden’s inclination to sign it. But, the Obergefell ruling holds many protections surrounding same-sex marriage. If it were overruled, it’s unclear whether the bill Congress is attempting to pass would continue to be constitutional, Schweber said.
“The answer is, at this point, I don’t think anybody knows,” Schweber said.
