Human rights advocates cheered Tuesday's signing by U.S. President Joe Biden of the Respect for Marriage Act, landmark legislation to codify limited protections for same-sex and interracial marriages passed in response to right-wing attacks on civil rights.
The new law—which passed the Senate on November 30th and the House of Representatives last Thursday—requires states to recognize marriage licenses issued anywhere in the United States. It does not confirm nationwide same-sex marriage rights as established by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges. Nor does it prohibit states from banning same-sex marriage if Obergefell is struck down, as Justice Clarence Thomas suggested it should be in his concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the June decision that voided half a century of national abortion rights.
