Biden signs Respect for Marriage Act codifying federal recognition of same-sex marriages

President Biden signs the Respect for Marriage Act (P.L. 117-228), requiring the federal government to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages performed in any state and requiring states to give full faith and credit to valid marriages from other states. The law codifies what Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) and Loving v. Virginia (1967) had established constitutionally, but it provides a statutory backstop if those rulings are ever overturned. The bill passes the Senate 61-36 with 12 Republicans voting in favor after Justice Clarence Thomas's Dobbs concurrence suggested revisiting Obergefell.