[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 275 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 275

                 To affirm the Defense of Marriage Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 25, 2003

Mr. Nickles (for himself, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Bunning, Mr. 
     Cornyn, Mr. Santorum, and Mr. Allard) submitted the following 
    resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
                 To affirm the Defense of Marriage Act.

Whereas, marriage is a fundamental social institution that has been tested and 
        reaffirmed over thousands of years;
Whereas, historically marriage has been reflected in our law and the law of all 
        jurisdictions in the United States as the union of a man and a woman, 
        and the everyday meaning of marriage and the legal meaning of marriage 
        has always been defined as the legal union of a man and a woman as 
        husband and wife;
Whereas, families consisting of the legal union of one man and one woman for the 
        purpose of bearing and raising children remains the basic unit of our 
        civil society;
Whereas, in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the Supreme Judicial Court 
        of Massachusetts ruled 4 to 3 that the Constitution of the State of 
        Massachusetts prohibits the denial of the issuance of marriage licenses 
        to same-sex couples;
Whereas, the power to regulate marriage lies with the legislature and not with 
        the judiciary and the Constitution of the State Massachusetts 
        specifically states that the judiciary ``shall never exercise the 
        legislative and executive powers, or either of them: to the end it may 
        be a government of laws and not of men''; and
Whereas, in 1996, Congress overwhelmingly passed, and President Bill Clinton 
        signed, the Defense of Marriage Act under which Congress exercised its 
        rights under the effects clause of section 1 of Article IV of the United 
        States Constitution: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the Sense of the Senate--
            (1) Congress should take whatever steps necessary to affirm 
        the fact that marriage in the United States shall consist only 
        of the union of one man and one woman;
            (2)(A) same-sex marriage is not a right, fundamental or 
        otherwise, recognized in this country; and
            (B) neither the United States Constitution nor any Federal 
        law shall be construed to require that marital status or legal 
        incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or 
        groups; and
            (3) the Defense of Marriage Act is a proper and 
        constitutional exercise of Congress's powers under the effects 
        clause of section 1 of Article IV and that no State, territory, 
        or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be 
        required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial 
        proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe 
        respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that 
        is treated as a marriage under the laws of such State, 
        territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising 
        from such relationship.
                                 <all>