The Senate is back from recess, and legislators are facing down a daunting to-do list to complete before the November election, including passing appropriations bill and confirming more of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees. Additionally, there's now increasing pressure to make time for a vote on the Respect for Marriage Act, which would offer limited protection to bolster previous Supreme Court decisions legalizing interracial and same-sex marriage in the face of this summer's blockbuster decision from the court striking down Roe v. Wade's landmark legalization of abortion.
The bill was passed in the House earlier this summer in response to the court's unprecedented move of taking away a right once granted. Such a move on its own would have raised fears that the court would next overturn other decisions that granted rights like same-sex marriage and birth control, but Justice Clarence Thomas erased any lingering doubts that such things are next on the religious right's wish list by explicitly inviting lawsuits challenging those previous decisions.
