A Democratic state lawmaker has sponsored a proposal to strike the language of a dormant same-sex marriage ban from the Michigan Constitution.
State Representative Jason Morgan (D-Ann Arbor) said the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of abortion rights protections shows the conservative majority is willing to revisit foundational decisions, including the Obergefell v. Hodges opinion that cleared the way for him to marry his partner.
“If the Supreme Court were to overturn this protection for marriage equality, it would become illegal again for any same-sex couple to get married in our state,” Morgan told Michigan Public Radio.
The same-sex marriage ban proposal was approved by Michigan voters in 2004 and stood until the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down in a case that included April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse’s appeal of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that rejected their challenge of the Michigan ban. But even though the Supreme Court struck down the amendment as a violation of equal protection and due process rights, the language remains in the Michigan Constitution.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the 5-4 majority decision.
It would require two-thirds majorities in the House and the Senate to put a question on the ballot asking voters to adopt an amendment to strip the language from the Michigan Constitution. An alternative would be a petition campaign to put an amendment proposal on the statewide ballot, a path endorsed by state Senator Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield).
Morgan and Moss both said a proposed non-binding resolution by a small group of House Republicans including Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) helped make the case for removing the language.
House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp.) was not pleased with the actions of the right-wing rogue group and assigned the resolution, which would carry no legal weight, to a “graveyard” committee as a signal that will be its final destination.
