Idaho Lawmakers Want Supreme Court to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage Decision

A state legislative committee has advanced a resolution asking that the power to regulate marriage be returned to the states.

Since 1793, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined a request by President George Washington to offer legal guidance on foreign relations, the court’s justices have steered away from weighing in outside the context of a formal lawsuit.

That has not deterred lawmakers in Idaho, however. This week, a State House committee overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on the Supreme Court to undo Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 decision that gave same-sex couples the right to marry, and to hand the power to regulate marriage back to the states.

The resolution would still need approval by the full House and the Idaho Senate before any request could be sent to the Supreme Court. Both chambers in Idaho are controlled by Republicans.

“Since court rulings are not laws and only legislatures elected by the people may pass laws, Obergefell is an illegitimate overreach,” the resolution reads. It continues: “The Idaho Legislature calls upon the Supreme Court of the United States to reverse Obergefell and restore the natural definition of marriage, a union of one man and one woman.’’

An organization based in Massachusetts called MassResistance has pressed for the resolution, The Idaho Statesman reported. The group describes itself as a “pro-family activist organization” and traces its roots to marriage equality battles in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage became legal as a result of a 2003 decision by the state’s Supreme Judicial Court.

At the hearing in Idaho, the sponsor of the measure, Representative Heather Scott, a Republican, said it was important to make a statement about states’ rights.