Respect for Marriage Act is not the end of the fight

Let’s talk about the Respect for Marriage Act. That’s that landmark legislation that was passed with bipartisan support to protect the right for couples of the same sex and couples of different races to marry. Now, most people thought that it was unnecessary to codify such protections into law. Supreme Court precedent has protected marriage for gay couples since 2015. And also what interracial marriage since 1967. But with today’s right wing Supreme Court, overturning the right to abortion last summer, it’s become essential to protect our civil rights that rests on court rulings. We cannot become complacent when our civil rights are under attack. Way too many Americans fail to appreciate how much their basic civil rights rest in the fickle hands of the US Supreme Court, the right to access contraception, to enjoy racial integration to have an attorney present when you’re in a felony case to know your Miranda rights and so on. These protections and more are all rooted in Supreme Court precedent, and they can be reversed with the stroke of a right wing conservative justices pen. Today’s Supreme Court is gunning to undermine the advancements of the Warren Court. From 1953 to 1969, Chief Judge Earl Warren ushered in a new era, a constitutional revolution that gave us the protections every democracy should enjoy. Warren did not wait for Congress to get it right. He rallied the court to bring our nation into the light, ensuring that the Founding Fathers vision actually extended to all regardless of gender, race and wealth. Warren’s court gave us Brown v Board of Education, Gideon v. Wainwright, Miranda V. Arizona. Warren’s court cut through the Founding Fathers’ hypocrisy. But today’s court, the one led by Chief Justice John Roberts, they’re on another mission. Instead of expanding our civil rights, they want to take us back into the dark ages where inequity reigned. That’s why they 117 Congress came together, Republicans and Democrats to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, because they know that our civil rights secured by Supreme Court precedent are vulnerable. The current High Court was strategically crafted by the right and our rights aren’t protected. But don’t get it twisted just because the GOP jumped on board to protect gay and interracial marriage. That doesn’t mean that the right isn’t out to undermine our civil rights and to harm those most vulnerable in our society. For the GOP the Respect for Marriage Act was nothing more than a concession to advance appearances. The right wants to appear reasonable to distract us from reality. That is that the right which is about to control the House is coming for our basic civil rights. Rolling back abortion was just the beginning.

Don’t let the Respect for Marriage Act make you think that the fight is over. If you want to control your own destiny, you need to pay attention. Don’t get complacent with the superficial seeming acts of democracy. Stay alert, stay focused, stay invested. Without our civil rights. There can be no life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.