FILE - With the U.S. Capitol in the background, a person waves a rainbow flag as they participant in a rally in support of the LGBTQIA+ community at Freedom Plaza, Saturday, June 12, 2021, in Washington. The U.S. House overwhelmingly approved legislation Tuesday, July, 19, 2022, to protect same-sex and interracial marriages amid concerns that the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade abortion access could jeopardize other rights criticized by many conservative Americans. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Respect for Marriage Act, now pending in the Senate, would ensure that same-sex marriages are still legally recognized nationwide if the Supreme Court were to overturn its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that declared a constitutional right for gay couples to wed.
The House-passed legislation has some Republican support and is expected to come up for a vote in September. It is part of an effort by Democrats to protect various rights after Supreme Court decision last month to overturn Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion in all states.
While the Senate is not expected to approve separate House bills to legalize abortion or protect contraception rights, the same-sex marriage legislation has a real shot at passage after a handful of Republican senators indicated they would vote for it. Democrats need 10 GOP votes to overcome a filibuster and get the legislation through the 50-50 Senate.
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A look at the bill:
PROTECTS, BUT DOESN'T CODIFY
The bill is designed to protect same-sex marriages after Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in a concurring opinion that the Obergefell decision upholding gay marriage should also be reconsidered.
The legislation wouldn't codify, or enshrine into law, Obergefell, which now requires states to issue same-sex marriage licenses. If the bill were passed and Obergefell were later overturned, some states could stop issuing those licenses, but all states would still have to recognize same-sex marriages performed legally in other states.
The practical effect of that would be that some people couldn't get married in their own states, but all same-sex marriages would continue to be recognized and eligible for the legal benefits of marriage.
Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the lead Democrat pushing the bill in the Senate, says the legislation was written that way because marriage is currently regulated by the states, not the federal government. Any legislation requiring federal regulation of marriages would be unlikely to garner enough support to pass.
REPEAL THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT
If Obergefell were overturned today, federal law would partially revert to a 1996 statute called the Defense of Marriage Act. That legislation allowed states not to recognize same-sex marriages and legally defined the word "marriage" as a union between one man and one woman.
The bill would fully repeal that law, replacing it with the new language requiring that states and the federal government consider an individual married if they have been legally married in any state.
A separate 2013 Supreme Court case, United States v. Windsor, repealed part of the Defense of Marriage Act that kept legally married same-sex couples from receiving federal tax, health and pension benefits that were otherwise available to married couples. The bill includes provisions to ensure those benefits remain for same-sex couples, as well.
INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE
In addition to same-sex marriages, the bill would protect interracial marriages that were affirmed by the 1960s-era Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia. That decision invalidated state laws that banned marriages between individuals of different races.
The bill prohibits states "from denying full faith and credit to an out-of-state marriage based on the sex, race, ethnicity or national origin of the individuals in the marriage."
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A look at 50 years of Supreme Court abortion decisions
1973
The court legalizes abortion nationwide in the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
In photo: Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe in the 1973 court case, left, and her attorney Gloria Allred hold hands as they leave the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC., Wednesday, April 26, 1989.
1976
The court strikes down a Missouri law requiring a married woman to get her husband's consent for an abortion.
1986
The court strikes down portions of a Pennsylvania law it said attempted to intimidate women into continuing pregnancies by, among other things, requiring them to be told the risks associated with abortion.
1989
The court declines to overrule Roe but allows more state regulation of abortion.
1992
The court reaffirms its decision in Roe and says states can't ban abortion before viability, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb, around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
2000
The court strikes down a Nebraska law that barred an abortion procedure used during the second trimester of pregnancy. The law didn't have an exception to the ban for the health of the pregnant woman.
2007
In a decision weakening Roe, the court upholds the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress, which is similar to Nebraska's law.
2016
In its strongest defense of abortion rights in 25 years, the court strikes down Texas rules forcing clinics to meet hospital-like standards and doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
2020
A more conservative court strikes down a Louisiana law nearly identical to the Texas one it struck down in 2016.
2021
The court declines to take emergency action and allows a Texas law banning abortion beginning at around six weeks to take effect.
2022
The court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years.
Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.
