With 62 votes, the Senate advanced the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would provide federal codification of the right to marriage for interracial and LGBTQ couples, blocking an expected attempt by tight assed conservatives to overturn those human rights judicially, the Washington Post reports.
While the federal recognition of marriage is important, it does not provide the Constitutionally-guaranteed right to marriage in all 50 states that a SCOTUS decision would, Democratic Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney said in an appearance on MSNBC. A challenge to the RMA would provide that ruling.
The need for federal legislation came after Justice Clarence Thomas threatened the status of LGBTQ marriage in his concurring opinion overturning Roe, revoking body autonomy, in which he stated the Court’s Obergefell decision, upholding LGBTQ marriage, should be reviewed.