The Epoch Times
The Epoch Times
AD
The Epoch Times
Support Us
SHARE
USUS PoliticsCongress

Senate Advances Bill to Codify Gay Marriage as Federal Right

Copy
Facebook
X
Truth
Gettr
LinkedIn
Telegram
Email
Save
Senate Advances Bill to Codify Gay Marriage as Federal Right
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks at a news conference in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Aug. 2, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Joseph Lord
By Joseph Lord
11/16/2022Updated: 11/16/2022
0:00

The U.S. Senate voted to advance a bill codifying a federal right to same-sex marriage.

The vote is the first major legislative move by the lame-duck 117th Senate. In a bipartisan 62–37 vote, the Senate voted to end debate on the measure. Twelve Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in voting to advance.

The bill would repeal the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman and replace it with language inclusive of gay marriage.

“The bill also repeals and replaces provisions that do not require states to recognize same-sex marriages from other states with provisions that prohibit the denial of full faith and credit or any right or claim relating to out-of-state marriages on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin,” the description of the bill on the Senate website says.

In addition to same-sex marriages, the bill grants new federal protections to interracial marriages.

The bill was approved by the House of Representatives in June but stalled in the Senate as lawmakers sought to hammer out a deal that could actually overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

As the upper chamber moved toward a vote on the legislation after months of negotiations, its fate still hung in the balance.

In the House, 47 Republicans voted for it.

However, its real test was always going to be in the Senate, where Republicans have the power to shoot down the legislation if at least 10 Republicans fail to support it.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) at a hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on April 20, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) at a hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on April 20, 2021. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Republican Support

Some Senate Republicans were expected to support the bill off the bat.

These include moderates like Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who have often broken with their party on key social issues.

The bill’s two main sponsors were Collins and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who are retiring at the end of the 117th Congress, were also sponsors of the bill.

The bill “recognizes the unique and extraordinary importance of marriage on an individual and societal level,” Collins said in a floor speech encouraging others to vote for the bill.

“Religious liberty is a key pillar of our Constitution and I’m confident that nothing in this bill will limit the freedom of religion under the First Amendment,” Portman said in a floor speech after Collins. Like many of his GOP peers supporting the bill, Portman is leaving office for the last time in January 2023.

A sticking point for some Republicans during negotiations was the demand that it include key protections for religious institutions and churches.

Ahead of the vote, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who often defects from his party, tied his support for the bill to this condition.

“If it includes important protections for religions and religious institutions, I will support it,” Romney told Politico.

Other Republicans, including Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) demurred from telling reporters how they would vote on advancing the bill.

Ultimately, the bill garnered enough support to pass the upper chamber easily.

12 Republicans joined Democrats to support the cloture vote, including:
  • Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
  • Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.)
  • Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)
  • Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
  • Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)
  • Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.)
  • Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
  • Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
  • Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)
  • Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah)
  • Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
  • Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.)
The US Supreme Court building in Washington on Oct. 3, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
The US Supreme Court building in Washington on Oct. 3, 2022. Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Democrats Worried About 14th Amendment Protections

The legislation was one of a flurry of bills passed over the summer by the Democrat-controlled lower chamber. It came after the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that abortion was not a federally-protected right.

Because Roe v. Wade, which codified the legal right to an abortion, relied on the 14th Amendment “equal protection” clause, some Democrats were concerned that the Dobbs ruling could be a precursor to overturning other 14th Amendment cases.

For instance, the same standard used in Roe v. Wade was developed in Griswold v. Connecticut, which ruled that people have the Constitutional right to access birth control.

Later cases like Lawrence v. Texas—which codified a federal right to sodomy—and Obergefell v. Hodges—which made same-sex marriage a federal right—relied on the same 14th Amendment standards laid out in Griswold.

Adding to Democrats’ concerns was Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson. While the majority opinion emphasized that other 14th Amendment precedents were not under threat, Thomas wrote that the court should indeed expand the Dobbs precedent to other cases.

In his concurring opinion to Dobbs’s majority ruling, Thomas said that “‘substantive due process’ is an oxymoron that lack[s] any basis in the Constitution” and that “the Due Process Clause does not secure any substantive rights.”

For this reason, Thomas said that “in future cases, [the justices] should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” and that “because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous,’ we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the sponsor of the bill in the House, made clear that this decision influenced Democrats’ push to pass the legislation.

“Three weeks ago, a conservative majority on the Supreme Court not only repealed Roe v. Wade and walked back 50 years of precedent, it signaled that other rights, like the right to same-sex marriage, are next on the chopping block,” said Nadler in a July 18 press release.

“As this Court may take aim at other fundamental rights, we cannot sit idly by as the hard-earned gains of the Equality movement are systematically eroded. If Justice Thomas’s concurrence teaches anything it’s that we cannot let your guard down or the rights and freedoms that we have come to cherish will vanish into a cloud of radical ideology and dubious legal reasoning,” Nadler continued.

Gary Bai contributed to this report. 
Joseph Lord
Joseph Lord
Author
Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.
Author’s Selected Articles

What’s in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’?

May 22, 2025
What’s in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’?

2 Israeli Embassy Staffers Killed in DC Shooting Near Jewish Museum: Noem

May 22, 2025
2 Israeli Embassy Staffers Killed in DC Shooting Near Jewish Museum: Noem

House Passes Trump Agenda Bill in Early Morning Vote

May 21, 2025
House Passes Trump Agenda Bill in Early Morning Vote

Biden Was Last Screened for Prostate Cancer in 2014, His Office Says

May 20, 2025
Biden Was Last Screened for Prostate Cancer in 2014, His Office Says
Related Topics
Democrats
Senate
Respect for Marriage Act
Save
The Epoch Times
Copyright © 2000 - 2025 The Epoch Times Association Inc. All Rights Reserved.