Sir 61. The nays are 36.
The bill, as amended, has passed.
Dear President, what a great day.
What a great day.
And now that was just about
an hour ago the Senate took
the major step towards enshrining the right
to same sex and interracial marriage.
Federally, 12 Republicans joined
with the Democrats to pass
the respect for Marriage Act.
You heard the vote count right there.
That legislation is now expected
to receive quick passage in the
House that already did once,
and then it goes to the president's
desk to become law.
In the world of Washington politics,
this push to codify same sex and interracial
marriage happened incredibly fast.
And it's bipartisan support was completely
unexpected just a few months ago.
Ken's here to explain what this law
actually would do and why it matters.
Hey, Kent. Hey, Janet.
Yeah, this all really started
after the Supreme Court overturned
Roe V Wade this summer.
In his opinion, justice Clarence
Thomas also called the right to
same sex marriage into question.
Legal scholars say he was essentially
inviting a legal challenge.
But in doing so, he motivated lawmakers
on both sides of the aisle to add new.
Federal protections.
Mr ***** Mr Cornyn,
though Congress appears to be hours
away from codifying same sex and
interracial marriage into federal law,
it doesn't mean legal challenges go away.
There certainly will be a slew of lawsuits,
and as soon as this law is signed,
you will see those lawsuits.
The Supreme Court will have an opportunity
to take any one of those lawsuits,
or multiple if it would like to,
but it doesn't mean they're likely to.
And Supreme Court scholars like
University of Minnesota political
science professor Tim Johnson
says the respect for marriage.
Fact is designed to stand up to
those challenges by relying on the
Constitution's full faith and credit clause.
And this provision.
Using full faith and credit really
will make it difficult for the
US Supreme Court to decide that
this law is unconstitutional.
Why? Because full faith and credit
is an actual provision in the
Constitution that states are mandated
to follow to protect the rights
of everybody from other states.
It's the same clause that requires
state drivers licenses be recognized.
Throughout the US and by adding that
constitutional language to the Supreme
Court's landmark oberfeld decision in 2015,
which requires all states to issue
marriage licenses to same sex couples,
he says it's unlikely even the courts
conservative majority would overturn it.
Did they Supreme Court
proof this potential law?
Yeah, I think that that's
one way to think about it.
It's almost like the icing on the cake,
right? The cake is Obergefell
that says you have this, right.
The icing is the law that says we are
going to tell you once again, you have.
That's right.
Oh, and by the way,
there's this full faith and credit
provision that ultimately says
we've got an additional layer
of protection for this right.
And he says a new amendment making
clear that nonprofit religious
organizations are not required to
help perform a same sex marriage
offers one final flourish because it
keeps with legal precedent and keeps
this bipartisan effort together.
The Republicans learned a very
difficult lesson during the midterms
at the beginning of this month,
and that is when you go around.
Supporting the idea of taking away
rights of large swaths of Americans,
Americans are not going to be happy about
that and they're not going to vote for you.
And so beyond the Supreme Court issue
and and the actual right involved here,
the Democrats are really painting
the Republican Party into a corner
by saying we're daring you now to
come and fight against a right that
a large majority of Americans now
believe every American should have
and that is the right to marry.
And that large majority he just referenced?
Well, that comes from a Gallup poll this
summer that found that a record 71% of
Americans support same sex marriage.
Again, the House is expected to sign
off on this bill in the coming days
and then send it to President Biden,
who said tonight that he looks
forward to enacting it.