Congressional GOP Urges SCOTUS to Uphold Marriage Bans

Proving yet again that they are the enemies of LGBT equality - and total political whores to the Christofascists - Congressional Republicans of both the Senate and House of Representatives filed a brief with the U. S. Supreme Court ("SCOTUS") on Friday urging the Court to uphold state bans on same sex marriage. Among the arguments put forth are that (i) defining marriage should be left to mob majority rule, (ii) the issue is outside the scope of the Equal Protection Clause, (iii) same sex marriage is "too new" and that the Court should use restraint, and (iv) states should be free to refuse to recognize out of state marriages just as they do where one or both of the spouses are under the minimum age.  Among the local members of Congress signing the brief was J. Randy Forbes who ought to resign his seat and become a televangelist or work for a hate group like FRC or AFA.  Here are excerpts from the Washington Blade:

A total of 57 congressional Republicans — including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz — joined forces in a bicameral brief filed on Friday urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold state bans on same-sex marriage.

The 32-page brief — signed by six U.S. senators and 51 U.S. House members — makes the case that state prohibitions on same-sex marriage are constitutional on the basis of principles of federalism, judicial restraint and states’ traditional sovereignty over domestic relations.

At one point, congressional Republicans invoke the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, saying the nationwide ruling on abortion was “widely criticized” for departing from incremental change.

The six senators who signed the brief, in addition to McConnell and Cruz, are Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.). In February, McConnell was tight-lipped when asked by the Washington Blade about his hopes for the marriages cases and non-committal about signing a friend-of-the-court brief.

Among the 51 House members who signed the brief are lawmakers who have a reputation for holding anti-LGBT views, including Reps. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Steve King (R-Iowa), Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), Randy Weber (R-Texas) and Pete Sessions (R-Texas).

Not listed is House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Standing in contrast to this brief is a filing from 211 congressional Democrats — 167 House members and 44 senators — calling on the Supreme Court to find a constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry. Even though the Democrats are at their smallest minority ever in Congress since the early 20th century, the number of lawmakers on the Democrats’ brief is nearly four times the number on the Republican brief.