These 47 Republicans Voted With Democrats On Respect For Marriage Act

ACROSS AMERICA — Forty-seven U.S. House Republicans crossed the aisle Tuesday to protect same-sex and interracial marriage, a measure Democrats said was necessary after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade earlier this summer, ending 50 years of constitutional protections on abortion.

The June decision in the case that reversed Roe, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, was one of the few times in history the Supreme Court has invalidated an earlier decision declaring a constitutional right.

It sparked fears other landmark cases, including the 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage, could fall next. In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that if the Constitution's Due Process Clause doesn't guarantee the right to an abortion, it doesn't guarantee other substantive rights, either.

The Respect for Marriage Act is the latest in Democrats’ push to codify rights that have been long considered settled law, but now seen as vulnerable with a firmly conservative Supreme Court. It's one of several bills, including those enshrining abortion access, that Democrats are proposing to confront the court's conservative majority. Another bill, guaranteeing access to contraceptive services, is set for a vote later this week.

A Gallup poll in June showed broad and increasing support for same-sex marriage, with 70 percent of U.S. adults saying they think such unions should be recognized by law as valid. The poll showed majority support among both Democrats (83 percent) and Republicans (55 percent).

Approval of interracial marriage in the U.S. hit a six-decade high at 94 percent in September, according to Gallup.

Tuesday's vote forced all members of the House to put on the record their positions on same-sex and interracial marriage.

“For me, this is personal,” said Rep. Mondaire Jones, a New York Democrat, who told the Associated Press he is among the openly gay members of the House.

“Imagine telling the next generation of Americans, my generation, we no longer have the right to marry who we love,” he said. “Congress can't allow that to happen.”

Worried about the political fallout, GOP leaders didn't press members of the caucus to hold the party line against the bill, aides told the AP.

Just over 20 percent of the GOP caucus supported the measure, which passed 267-157 on a roll call vote — signaling that at least some faction of the party accepts the decisions that constitutionally protected same-sex marriage, or that Republicans recognize personal freedoms are on the ballot in the November midterm elections.

Notably, both House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elsie Stefanik of New York and National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Tom Emmer of Minnesota voted with the Democrats.

A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate. Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin were joined by Sen. Susan Collins in sponsoring the Senate version of the Respect for Marriage Act. It's likely to stall in the evenly split Senate, where most Republicans are likely to join a filibuster to block it.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declined to express his view on the bill, leaving an open question over how strongly his party would fight it, if it should come up for a vote in the upper chamber.

Importantly, the House legislation codifying the rights to same-sex and interracial marriage repeals the 1990s-era Defense of Marriage Act. The Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in two cases, Windsor v. United States, and the Obergefell v. Hodges decision protecting same-sex marriage.

The Defense of Marriage Act allowed states to refuse to recognize valid civil marriages of same-sex couples. That legislation also exempted same-sex couples, regardless of their marital status, from federal statutes, regulations and rulings that apply to other married people, denying them more than 1,100 federal benefits.

The House Democratic caucus voted unanimously in support of the Respect for Marriage Act. Republicans who joined them are:

California: Reps. Ken Calvert, Mike Garcia, Jay Obernolte, Darrell Issa and David Valadao.

Florida: Reps. Kat Cammack, Mario Diaz-Balart, Rep. Carlos Gimenez, Brian Mast, Maria Elvira Salazar and Michael Waltz.

Idaho: Rep. Mike Simpson.

Illinois: Reps. Rodney Davis and Adam Kinzinger.

Iowa: Reps. Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

Michigan: Reps. Peter Meijer and Fred Upton.

Minnesota: Rep. Tom Emmer.

Missouri: Rep. Ann Wagner.

Nebraska: Rep. Don Bacon.

New Jersey: Rep. Jefferson Van Drew

New York: Reps. Andrew Garbarino, Chris Jacobs, John Katko, Nicole Malliotakis, Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin.

North Dakota: Rep. Kelly Armstrong.

Ohio: Reps. Mike Carey, Anthony Gonzalez, David Joyce and Mike Turner.

Oregon: Rep Cliff Bentz.

Pennsylvania: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Dan Meuser and Scott Perry.

South Carolina: Reps. Nancy Mace and Tom Rice.

Texas: Rep. Tony Gonzales.

Utah: Reps. John Curtis, Blake Moore, Burgess Owens and Chris Stewart.

Washington: Rep. Dan Newhouse.

Wisconsin: Rep. Bryan Steil.

Wyoming: Rep. Liz Cheney

Five of the GOP House members who supported the bill — Gonzalez, Kinzinger, Katko, Upton and Jacobs — are not seeking reelection this year. Davis and Rice lost their primaries for re-election, and Zeldin is running for New York.

Ahead of Tuesday's voting, a number of lawmakers joined protesters demonstrating against the abortion ruling outside the Supreme Court, which sits across from the Capitol and remains fenced off for security during tumultuous political times. Capitol Police said among those arrested were 16 members of Congress.

“The extremist right-wing majority on the Supreme Court has put our country down a perilous path,” Pennsylvania Demcoratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon said in a floor speech setting Tuesday’s debate in motion.

“It’s time for our colleagues across the aisle to stand up and be counted. Will they vote to protect these fundamental freedoms? Or will they vote to let states take those freedoms away?”

But Republicans insisted the court was only focused on abortion access in June when it struck down the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade ruling, and they argued that same-sex marriage and other rights were not threatened.

In fact, almost none of the Republicans who rose to speak during the debate directly broached the subject of same-sex or interracial marriage.

"We are here for a political charade, we are here for political messaging,” said Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee.

That same tack could be expected in the Senate.

“The predicate of this is just wrong," Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said. "I don’t think the Supreme Court is going to overturn any of that stuff.”

As several Democrats spoke of inequalities they said they or their loved ones had faced in same-sex marriages, the Republicans talked about rising gas prices, inflation and crime, including recent threats to justices in connection with the abortion ruling.

For Republicans in Congress the Trump-era confirmation of conservative justices to the Supreme Court has fulfilled a long-term GOP goal of revisiting many social, environmental and regulatory issues the party has been unable to tackle on its own by passing bills that could be signed into law.

Writing for the majority in overturning Roe, Justice Samuel Alito argued for a more narrow interpretation of the rights guaranteed to Americans, noting that the right to an abortion was not spelled out in the Constitution.

While Alito insisted in the majority opinion that “this decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right,” others have taken notice.

“The MAGA radicals that are taking over the Republican Party have made it abundantly clear they are not satisfied with repealing Roe,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York referring to Trump's backers.

He pointed to comments from Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who said over the weekend that the Supreme Court’s decision protecting marriage equality was “clearly wrong” and state legislatures should visit the issue.

Schumer did not commit to holding a vote on the marriage bill.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.