NY Journal News

House passes limits on court power in gay marriage cases

By THE JOURNAL NEWS
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
(Original publication: July 23, 2004)

The Republican-led House voted yesterday to prevent federal courts from ordering states to recognize gay marriages sanctioned by other states.

The Marriage Protection Act was adopted by a 233-194 vote, buoyed by backing from President Bush. Last week, the Senate dealt gay marriage opponents a setback by failing to approve a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex unions.

All 19 Democrats who represent New York in the House voted against the bill yesterday, except Nita Lowey of Harrison, who was on Long Island for the birth of a grandchild. An aide said she would have voted "no." Eight of New York's 10 Republican House members voted for the bill, including Sue Kelly of Katonah.

"This bill seeks to ensure that the bipartisan Defense of Marriage Act signed by President Clinton is not undermined by judicial activism," Kelly said in a statement, referring to the 1996 law that allows states to refuse to recognize gay marriages performed in other states. The bill passed yesterday was intended to block federal courts from hearing challenges to that law. Only Massachusetts allows gay marriages.

Democrats said the bill was an unconstitutional attack on gays and the federal judiciary that would set a precedent that Congress could use to shield any future legislation from federal judicial review. They said it was an election-year distraction, noting that Republicans scheduled the debate on the bill for the same day that the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks released its report.

"I've heard the Republican leadership didn't want us to take up the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission," said Rep. Eliot Engel, the Bronx Democrat who represents parts of Westchester and Rockland. "That's what we should be talking about ­ how to make this country safe from the threat of terror attacks, not on trying to unconstitutionally restrict the judiciary from reviewing acts of Congress."

The Empire State Pride Agenda, a New York gay rights group, denounced the vote as a "circus type of feeding session" that threatened the rights of Americans to access the courts.