A Republican lawmaker in Iowa has introduced a resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 2015 ruling that established the right to same-sex marriage nationwide.
State Senator Sandy Salmon of Bremer County introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 on Tuesday. The resolution specifically targets the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.
The text of the resolution argues that "Since court rulings are not laws and only legislatures elected by the people may pass laws, Obergefell is an illegitimate overreach." The resolution also states that Iowa seeks for states to have the authority to determine their own marriage laws.
Iowa became one of the first states to legalize same-sex marriage in 2009 through an Iowa Supreme Court ruling. Since that time, efforts to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage have not been successful.
The resolution introduced by Senator Salmon has only been filed in the Statehouse thus far, with no further action taken on it. Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 is now part of the legislative record.
The action in Iowa follows similar efforts by conservative lawmakers in other states who have called for the high court to revisit the Obergefell ruling, particularly since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 returned abortion regulation to the states.
In Oklahoma, for example, State Senator Dusty Deevers authored Senate Concurrent Resolution 8 calling for the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges. The Oklahoma resolution argues the Obergefell decision conflicts with the Constitution's original public meaning and the history regarding marriage. Oklahoma Senate Concurrent Resolution 8 was introduced May 1.
Some justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, including Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who dissented in the 2015 ruling, have suggested the decision should be reconsidered.
State Senator Dusty Deevers commented on the push to overturn the ruling.
"Overturn Obergefell! In Obergefell, SCOTUS sowed the seeds of the supposed interchangeability of the sexes and we have reaped radical gender ideology ever since. It is time for SCOTUS to cease its war against nature and nature's God. It is time to overturn Obergefell."
