December 12, 2022

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a landmark bill requiring all fifty states to recognize the validity of legal marriages formed in other states. The bill—called The Respect for Marriage Act (the “Act”)—awaits the President’s signature after passing both the Senate and the House with bipartisan votes of support.

Once signed into law, the Act will officially repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples and allowed states to reject the legitimacy of legal same-sex marriages formed in other states. Many lawmakers pushed to enshrine federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages into law following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn federal abortion rights last June.

To be clear, the Respect for Marriage Act does not require states to legalize same-sex marriages. Rather, the Act requires all states to recognize the legal marriages formed in all other U.S. states. Should the Supreme Court vote to overturn the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges or 1967 Loving v. Virginia decisions granting the rights to same-sex and interracial marriages, an individual state could ban such marriages but would still be required to recognize same-sex or interracial out-of-state marriages under the new Act.

The attorneys at Farhang & Medcoff know how difficult it is to stay updated on new legal developments. If you are an employer and have questions about the Respect for Marriage Act, or any other legal issue, please call us at (520)214-2000.

This writing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by the dissemination of this writing.