Thursday, April 18, 2024

Cruz’s Two Step Strategy: A Constitutional Amendment and a Court-Stripping Bill

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (photo credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (photo credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0)

According to Bloomberg, Ted Cruz has introduced two pieces of legislation, a constitutional amendment backed by a bill stripping courts of authority to rule on marriage until the amendment passes:

Cruz’s legislation would establish a constitutional amendment shielding states that define marriage as between one woman and one man from legal action, according to bill language obtained by Bloomberg News.

A second bill would bar federal courts from further weighing in on the marriage issue until such an amendment is adopted.

Last year, he and Sen. Mike Lee filed similar legislation to protect 30 states that define marriage as one woman.  Cruz is clearly fearless and unafraid about standing for marriage.

But with Arizona and Arkansas unable to pass simple RFRA legislation because of a full court press calling it anti-gay, what realistic hope do we have of passing a Constitutional Amendment?  To build a political movement capable of resisting the crush that is coming, indeed that is already here, we need some realistic protective legislation to build towards. There is no reason, if we elected a committed president and a GOP Congress, we could not quickly pass the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act.

This is why this is for me a definitive test of whether Republicans plan to sit quietly by while progressives redefine Christian teaching as racism.  Or if there is a will to fight.

Maggie Gallagher is a senior fellow at American Principles in Action. 

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