Biden's gay marriage win may lead Democrats to retool Supreme Court attacks
by Naomi Lim, White House Reporter |
December 13, 2022 05:00 AM
President Joe Biden signing a bill into law that Democrats say safeguards gay and interracial marriages from the Supreme Court has been welcomed by its supporters.
But the Respect for Marriage Act addresses an issue at the center of the political attacks Democrats aimed at the Supreme Court and Republicans before last month's midterm elections, undermining their ability to use the same strategy during the 2024 cycle.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, herself the first openly gay black woman to brief from the podium, underscored Tuesday's bill signing ceremony as a bipartisan celebration, featuring musical guests who will perform before "thousands of people" on the South Lawn, including "lawmakers, as well as advocates and plaintiffs in marriage equality cases across the country."
"This is a reminder, if I may add, how when we do reach across the aisle, there are things that we can get done, historic pieces of legislation that we can get done, and we have seen that under the president," Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Yet Jean-Pierre amplifying bipartisan support for the Respect for Marriage Act contradicts her and her Democratic colleagues' rhetoric before the midterm contests. Biden described Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as "extreme in the extreme" during a fundraiser after Thomas's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization concurring opinion encouraged legal challenges to substantive due process precedents akin to Roe v. Wade, such as in decisions regarding contraceptive access, gay marriage, and same-sex relationships.
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