John Cornyn: “in 1996, the Congress voted overwhelmingly to pass the Defense of Marriage Act. This is a bipartisan bill, where Members…”

“in 1996, the Congress voted overwhelmingly to pass the Defense of Marriage Act. This is a bipartisan bill, where Members of both parties in both Houses voted overwhelmingly to define marriage as an institution in traditional terms, between a man and a woman. This, as you may recall, was in part a response at the time to the Vermont decision implementing civil unions. This body, just like approximately 38 States, has now passed defense of marriage acts defining marriage in traditional terms. Last September, the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing at which we elicited testimony on this issue: Is the Defense of Marriage Act in jeopardy? The reason we had that hearing is because the U.S. Supreme Court, last year, made some pretty significant decisions, one of which was Lawrence v. Texas, which, if the rationale was going to be followed through, would seem to place the Defense of Marriage Act in jeopardy, saying that that somehow violated the Constitution, thus opening the way to marriage between same-sex couples.”