Progress can be painfully slow in the American constitutional system. That makes it all the more important to recognize when the process works as it should.
Last week, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill that will require states and the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages that have been conducted in any state or U.S. territory where such unions are legal. It also affirmed the legitimacy of same-sex marriages for the purpose of federal benefits. It’s now back to the House, where an earlier version passed in July. Should the bill advance as expected, President Joe Biden has said he’ll promptly sign it.
Arguably, the measure is superfluous. Although it would formally repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which had defined marriage as a union of one man and one woman, more recent Supreme Court precedents had effectively already invalidated it. Since the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, moreover, gay marriage has been established as a constitutional right.
