A memorial calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its decision on gay marriage has nearly been approved by Idaho’s legislature.
The memorial, called House Joint Memorial 1, would send a letter to the Supreme Court urging it to “restore the natural definition of marriage, a union of one man and one woman” by overturning the historic Obergefell v Hodges decision if approved. It’s already made it through both Idaho’s House State Affairs Committee and the Idaho House, where it was approved by a vote of 46-24 on Monday. Now, it only needs approval from the Idaho Senate to make its way to the Supreme Court.
Sponsors of the memorial insist it’s primarily about state’s rights, not about eliminating gay marriage, as it would leave the legalization of same-sex marriage up to each state’s discretion, rather than being a nationwide law.
“This is to restore federalism, calling for the issue of marriage laws to the states, not to the federal government,” Rep. Heather Scott, a sponsor of the memorial, said on Monday.
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But opponents of the memorial take issue with that stance, pointing out the memorial’s language around marriage.
“It actually calls for the Supreme Court to declare that, from coast to coast, essentially the union is between a man and a woman,” said House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel. “So this is not about deferring it to states’ rights. It’s about coming up with a new judicially declared mandate.”
Another representative, Todd Achilles, compared the memorial to other abuses of the “states’ rights” argument in American history.
“My concern with the argument around states’ rights is the history associated with it,” Achilles said. “The Confederate states made similar claims to perpetuate slavery. During the Jim Crow era, segregation was justified based on states’ rights. Where do we draw the line?”
The memorial refers to Obergefell v Hodges as an “illegitimate overreach,” saying that “Obergefell’s inversion of the original meaning of liberty causes collateral damage to other aspects of our constitutional order that protect liberty, including religious liberty.” It is now headed to the Idaho Senate for a vote.
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