The bill — called the Respect for Marriage Act — was introduced by Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. In addition to guaranteeing the right to same-sex marriage nationwide, the bill also includes federal protections for interracial marriage. The measure argues that a marriage must be recognized under federal law if the marriage was legal in the state where it took place. The bill would also establish additional legal safeguards for married couples aimed at preventing discrimination based on sex, race, national origin or national origin, including authorizing the attorney general to take enforcement action. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said in a statement about the vote, “It is important to ensure that federal law protects those whose constitutional rights may be threatened by Republican-controlled state legislatures. LGBTQ Americans and those in interracial marriages deserve to be assured that their right to equal marriage will continue to be recognized wherever they live.” House Republican leaders did not plan to whip their members to vote against the bill, a GOP source told CNN before the vote. House Democrats, leaning on cultural issues after the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling, are also considering passing a bill this week to guarantee access to contraception. The Supreme Court’s bombshell opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade has sparked a debate about whether other precedents are now at risk. The majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito sought to limit its involvement in the abortion case from those other decisions, but Justice Clarence Thomas wrote separately to specifically request review of other decisions. “In future cases, we should revisit all of the Court’s substantive precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell,” Thomas wrote, referring to decisions on contraception and same-sex relationships. Liberals said those decisions are now in jeopardy. In their dissent, the court’s three liberal justices wrote “no one should be certain that this majority is done with its work.” “The right Roe and Casey recognized does not stand alone,” they wrote. “On the contrary, the Court has for decades linked it to other well-established liberties concerning bodily integrity, family relations, and procreation. Clearly, the right to terminate a pregnancy arose out of the right to purchase and use contraception. These rights led, more recently, to same-sex intimacy and marriage rights.’ The liberals added: “Either the mass of majority opinion is hypocritical, or additional constitutional rights are threatened. It’s one or the other.” In a letter to House Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi previewed the House’s votes on same-sex marriage and contraception as an affront to the Supreme Court. “This week, the House will pass two more bills to protect our nation’s freedoms as extremist judges and lawmakers target more of our basic rights,” he wrote. “Our Contraceptive Rights Act will preserve the core protections contained in Griswold v. Connecticut. Our Respect for Marriage Act — which, proudly, is bipartisan and bipartisan — will defend the right to marry who you love , as stated in Obergefell v. Hodges and Loving v. Virginia.” This story and headline have been updated to reflect additional developments on Tuesday. CNN’s Manu Raju and Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.
