Just because #Republicans are focused on #Trans people, they haven't forgotten their eventual desire to roll back the rights of other letters in #LGBTQ. #Colorado will have a fall ballot initiative to remove a defunct provision still in the state constitution about #marriage = 1 man + 1 woman. All the opposition to just getting that on the ballot came from #GOP state senators, who would love to have a time bomb ready to go off when #SCOTUS reviews #Obergefell ...
"Regardless of whether this bill was intended to target marriages of same-sex couples, interfaith couples, or interracial couples — it’s unconstitutional because the Constitution prohibits public officials from discriminating against members of the public based on their personal beliefs."
The new #law effectively removes half of what is needed under state law to become legally married. In #Tennessee, #marriage occurs after 2 events: the issuance of a marriage license, & the formal #solemnization of a marriage, which can be carried out by a #religious ofcl, a state notary public or a state ofcl.
By targeting #solemnization & not marriage licenses, the #law allows #Tennessee to undermine #SCOTUS’s ruling in #Obergefell v. Hodges while potentially avoiding a direct challenge to the #precedent. Experts compared the new TN law to the campaign waged against #RoeVWade, in which many states passed increasingly aggressive #abortion bans in the years leading up to the 2022 #Dobbs decision, when a majority of justices were willing to revisit & scrap the #Roe precedent entirely.
Justice #SamuelAlito on Tues renewed his criticisms of the #SupremeCourt’s landmark decision recognizing the right to #SameSexMarriage, saying that people who oppose homosexuality risk being unfairly “labeled as bigots & treated as such.”
The ruling, he added, shows how “Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be ‘labeled as bigots & treated as such’ by the government.”
The statement appeared to offer a glimpse into Justice #Alito’s continued discontent w/ #Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the court, by a 5-to-4 vote, guaranteed a right to same-sex marriage, a long-sought victory in the gay rights movement.
#Emmer (MN), the #House maj whip, was elected as the #GOP pick on a 5th ballot in an internal race that drew 9 #Republicans. It’s not clear, however, that he has enough support to be elected on the House floor. To prevail, Emmer would need a majority of the full chamber.
Emmer, who has been in #Congress since 2015, previously chaired the #National Republican Congressional Cmte — the House campaign arm — for 4 yrs.
#MikeJohnson served as a member of #Trump's #legal defense team during both the 2019 & 2020 impeachments.
#Johnson signed, along w/126 other #Republicans, an amicus brief in support of the BS #KenPaxton#SCOTUS case Texas v. Pennsylvania challenging President Joe #Biden’s victory (the Supreme Court declined to even hear the case).