Love who you want: The Senate should pass the Respect for Marriage Act

The terrible decision of five justices of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dobbs case to overturn Roe v. Wade’s federal abortion right could prompt a major expansion of human rights today when the Senate votes on the Respect for Marriage Act to allow Americans to wed who they love. If it happens, gays and lesbians will have Clarence Thomas to thank.

In the majority decision striking down 50 years of precedent in Roe, Samuel Alito claimed that other related precedents such as the right to contraceptives and to same-sex marriage were not at risk. Brett Kavanaugh echoed that in his own opinion — but Thomas disagreed, saying those court-protected rights were wrongly decided.

Less than a month after Dobbs, House Democrats united behind Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler’s Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a nasty bit of legislation passed in panic in 1996 that allowed states to not recognize gay marriages from other states. The Supreme Court later invalidated DOMA — but that precedent could be short-lived depending on where the court heads next.

The pro-marriage equality bill may have started in the House just to plant a political flag, but then 47 Republicans, 22% of the conference, voted yes on the July 19 roll call. Could there be a new law requiring the government to recognize same-sex marriages?

Were there 10 GOP senators willing to be among the 60 votes needed to overcome any filibuster? Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer didn’t want to make it a partisan fight — so he held the vote until after the midterm elections. That day is here.

Pre-election, the necessary 10 Republicans seemed in sight. The needed 10 is only a fifth of the conference, less than the House GOP contingent that voted the right way last summer. We already know Schumer and the Democrats will stay in charge for the next session. That only leaves each senator facing their conscience. 100 votes would be fabulous, but we’ll settle for 60.