In July, the House of Representatives quickly passed The Respect for Marriage Act (RMA) after Roe v. Wade was overturned. This week, that bill will reach a vote in the Senate, passage of which would codify the right to interracial and same-sex marriages through federal protections. It is very likely to pass—its only opposition is a bulk of outnumbered Republican lawmakers. RMA would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, signed by Bill Clinton in 1996, which allowed states not to recognize same-sex marriage.
When the Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade, the consequences were not isolated. Wonks immediately saw a dark road where the justification used to ignore 50 years of precedent in regards to the autonomy and control women have over their own bodies could also be applied to a number of other private or personal matters conservatives think run afoul of their values. It’s not just because of their political acumen either; in a concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said as much.
Thomas wrote: “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.” Those cases have pivotal rulings on the legality of access to contraceptives, consensual relations between same-sex people, and same-sex marriage, respectively. Many experts have noted that under this logic, the landmark Loving v. Virginia case that ruled bans on interracial marriage could be seen as unconstitutional, too. It’s likely Thomas didn’t mention this alongside the aforementioned cases because he is in an interracial marriage with Ginni Thomas, a deranged MAGA-pilled psycho.
The United States is in the midst of an intense struggle to quell the rise of unrepentant fascism. At the moment, the fight is taking place in the courts. The right wing is attempting to take away all rights that do not appease the white Christian male. The RMA is just one step at quelling these attacks, but rest assured, there will be more. And they’ll get even more aggressive.