The US Senate on Wednesday passed legislation to protect same-sex marriage. If the House of Representatives also agrees, individual states will soon have to recognize marriages contracted elsewhere. The law appears to survive that vote.
The law is a boost for Americans who have had their eye on the Supreme Court. In June, the highest courts struck down the national abortion law. Soon after, one of the chief justices suggested that he could also review the decision to allow same-sex marriage.
Today, the US Supreme Court is made up mostly of Republican justices. This while many conservative Americans are appalled by the right to abortion and marriage for same-sex partners.
Since 2015, same-sex people have had a national right to marry in the United States. The new law cannot prevent the abolition of this national law, but it can therefore protect marriages celebrated elsewhere.
Incidentally, it is not a foregone conclusion that the US Supreme Court will strike down the nation’s right to same-sex marriage when this argument comes up. According to American experts, there is division among conservative judges.
