Thomas Daschle: “as so many of my colleagues have stated on the floor over the course of the last couple of days, marriage is a sacred…”

“as so many of my colleagues have stated on the floor over the course of the last couple of days, marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman. That is what the vast majority of Americans believe. It is what South Dakotans believe. It is what I believe. In South Dakota, we have never had a same-sex marriage, and won't have any. It is prohibited by South Dakota law, as it is now in 38 other States. There is no confusion. There is no ambiguity. As others have noted, in 1996, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act. It defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. It protects States from any actions taken by another State that could in any way undermine the law of their State. What is overlooked by many is that it has never been challenged in court successfully--not once. It is the law of the land. It has been now for 8 years, and it has not once been challenged successfully. The question then is, Is there some urgent need now, absent even one successful challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, for us to amend the U.S. Constitution? We have differences of opinion about the legal necessity, but there can be no difference of opinion with regard to how extraordinary a step that is. In 217 years, we have amended that sacred document only 17 times, although there have been 11,000 separate attempts.”