House passes bill limiting federal courts on same-sex marriage

Published: 2004-07-23

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The House passed legislation July 22 that would limit federal court jurisdiction over same-sex marriage questions, but approval of the bill in the Senate was considered less likely. The Marriage Protection Act, adopted on a 233-194 vote, stipulates that "no court created by act of Congress shall have any jurisdiction, and the Supreme Court shall have no appellate jurisdiction, to hear or decide any question pertaining to the interpretation of, or the validity under the Constitution" of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. The earlier legislation protects the right of states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. The Marriage Protection Act is distinct from the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would change the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. The Federal Marriage Amendment failed in the Senate on a procedural vote July 14, but the Marriage Protection Act has not been considered in the Senate.

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