The Senate voted Tuesday in favor of the final passage of a bipartisan bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriage.
The legislation was a major priority of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to be completed in the current lame duck session.
The Senate vote followed the House’s passage of legislation earlier this year legalizing same-sex marriage, called the “Respect for Marriage Act.” The bill is intended to ensure that the Supreme Court does not take away the right that was guaranteed by the 2015 Supreme Court decision Obergefell v Hodges, as conservative Justice Clarence Thomas suggested was possible when the Court struck down the right to abortion.
The Respect for Marriage Act needed 60 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) was that 60th vote Tuesday evening.
The bill would not set a national requirement that all states must legalize same-sex marriage, but it would require individual states to recognize another state’s legal marriage.
