Title: Respect for Marriage Act
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues

Summary:
Respect for Marriage Act
This bill provides statutory authority for same-sex and interracial marriages.
Specifically, the bill replaces provisions that define, for purposes of federal law, marriage as between a man and a woman and spouse as a person of the opposite sex with provisions that recognize any marriage that is valid under state law. (The Supreme Court held that the current provisions were unconstitutional in United States v. Windsor in 2013.)
The bill also replaces provisions that do not require states to recognize same-sex marriages from other states with provisions that prohibit the denial of full faith and credit or any right or claim relating to out-of-state marriages on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin. (The Supreme Court held that state laws barring same-sex marriages were unconstitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015; the Court held that state laws barring interracial marriages were unconstitutional in Loving v. Virginia in 1967.) The bill allows the Department of Justice to bring a civil action and establishes a private right of action for violations.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8404 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8404

  To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State 
            regulation of marriage, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 18, 2022

   Mr. Nadler (for himself, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. 
Jones, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Takano, Ms. 
 Craig, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Torres of New York, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Ruiz, Ms. 
  Chu, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Payne, Mr. Brown of 
Maryland, Ms. Schakowsky, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Danny K. 
Davis of Illinois, Ms. Porter, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Lowenthal, 
Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. Bera, Mr. Norcross, 
   Mr. Deutch, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Cleaver, Ms. Stevens, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. 
 Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Trone, Mr. Bowman, Ms. Pressley, Ms. Kuster, 
 Ms. Barragan, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Welch, Mr. 
Langevin, Ms. Norton, Ms. Meng, Mrs. Bustos, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. 
 Pallone, Mr. Higgins of New York, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Bass, Mr. Schiff, 
   Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Jacobs of California, Mr. 
Thompson of California, Mr. Horsford, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. 
    Casten, Mr. Kahele, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Speier, Ms. 
 Sherrill, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. 
Auchincloss, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Williams 
    of Georgia, Mr. Foster, Ms. Titus, Ms. Adams, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. 
Doggett, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Ross, Mrs. 
    Fletcher, Mr. Garamendi, Ms. Kaptur, Mrs. Axne, Mr. Kilmer, Ms. 
 Jayapal, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Lee of California, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney 
of New York, Mr. Crow, Mr. McEachin, Mr. Himes, Mr. Lawson of Florida, 
Mr. Cardenas, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Costa, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Aguilar, Mr. 
  Yarmuth, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of 
  Pennsylvania, Mr. Crist, Mr. Evans, Mr. Stanton, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. 
   Gomez, Mr. Soto, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Correa, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. 
 Pascrell, Ms. DelBene, Ms. Matsui, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mrs. Napolitano, 
 Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. Allred, Ms. DeGette, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, 
   Mr. Neguse, Ms. Brownley, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Kim of New 
  Jersey, Ms. Spanberger, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Beyer, Mr. 
  Meeks, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Carson, Mr. McNerney, Ms. 
     Sewell, Ms. Omar, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. 
  Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Keating, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Quigley, Mrs. 
 Murphy of Florida, Ms. Castor of Florida, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, 
 Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Perlmutter, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Dean, 
    Mr. Malinowski, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Moulton, Ms. 
Underwood, Ms. Wild, Mr. Mfume, Mr. Scott of Virginia, and Ms. Slotkin) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State 
            regulation of marriage, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Respect for Marriage Act''.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF SECTION ADDED TO TITLE 28, UNITED STATES CODE, BY 
              SECTION 2 OF THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT.

    Section 1738C of title 28, United States Code, is repealed.

SEC. 3. FULL FAITH AND CREDIT GIVEN TO MARRIAGE EQUALITY.

    Chapter 115 of title 28, United States Code, as amended by this 
Act, is further amended by inserting after section 1738B the following:
``Sec. 1738C. Certain acts, records, and proceedings and the effect 
              thereof
    ``(a) In General.--No person acting under color of State law may 
deny--
            ``(1) full faith and credit to any public act, record, or 
        judicial proceeding of any other State pertaining to a marriage 
        between 2 individuals, on the basis of the sex, race, 
        ethnicity, or national origin of those individuals; or
            ``(2) a right or claim arising from such a marriage on the 
        basis that such marriage would not be recognized under the law 
        of that State on the basis of the sex, race, ethnicity, or 
        national origin of those individuals.
    ``(b) Enforcement by Attorney General.--The Attorney General may 
bring a civil action in the appropriate United States district court 
against any person who violates subsection (a) for declaratory and 
injunctive relief.
    ``(c) Private Right of Action.--Any person who is harmed by a 
violation of subsection (a) may bring a civil action in the appropriate 
United States district court against the person who violated such 
subsection for declaratory and injunctive relief.
    ``(d) State Defined.--In this section, the term `State' has the 
meaning given such term under section 7 of title 1.''.

SEC. 4. MARRIAGE RECOGNITION.

    Section 7 of title 1, United States Code, is amended to read as 
follows:
``Sec. 7. Marriage
    ``(a) For the purposes of any Federal law, rule, or regulation in 
which marital status is a factor, an individual shall be considered 
married if that individual's marriage is valid in the State where the 
marriage was entered into or, in the case of a marriage entered into 
outside any State, if the marriage is valid in the place where entered 
into and the marriage could have been entered into in a State.
    ``(b) In this section, the term `State' means a State, the District 
of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or 
possession of the United States.
    ``(c) For purposes of subsection (a), in determining whether a 
marriage is valid in a State or the place where entered into, if 
outside of any State, only the law of the jurisdiction applicable at 
the time the marriage was entered into may be considered.''.

SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.

    If any provision of this Act, or any amendment made by this Act, or 
the application of such provision to any person, entity, government, or 
circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this 
Act, or any amendment made thereby, or the application of such 
provision to all other persons, entities, governments, or 
circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.
                                 <all>