President Bush backs constitutional marriage amendment

WASHINGTON (BP)–President Bush announced his support for a constitutional marriage amendment Feb. 24, saying that "activist" judges and local officials threaten to change the "most fundamental institution of civilization."

Photo Courtesy of the White House

In making his announcement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Bush backed a version of an amendment that would protect the traditional definition of marriage by banning same-sex "marriage" but leave the issue of civil unions and domestic partnerships up to the states.

"An amendment to the Constitution is never to be undertaken lightly," Bush said. "The amendment process has addressed many serious matters of national concern. And the preservation of marriage rises to this level of national importance."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that the so-called Federal Marriage Amendment, which has been introduced in Congress, "meets some of the principles" that Bush supports.

"We will be working with [congressional leaders] on specific language for an amendment," McClellan said.

The Federal Marriage Amendment has 113 supporters in the House and nine in the Senate, and has received the support of several pro-family organizations, including Focus on the Family, the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and the Family Research Council.

"Today I call upon the Congress," Bush said, "to promptly pass and to send to the states for ratification an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as the union of a man and woman as husband and wife," Bush said. "The amendment should fully protect marriage while leaving the state legislatures free to make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage."

Democrats criticized the announcement. Democratic presidential front- runner John Kerry said the amendment is a "wedge issue" and that he will vote against it if it reaches the Senate floor. Adding that he’s against same-sex "marriage" but for civil unions, Kerry said that Bush is trying to divert attention from other issues.

In recent months social conservatives have been split on which version of an amendment to support. Some say that an amendment should ban civil unions, while others say that such an amendment, while desirable, is politically unfeasible. McClellan said that Bush "has made it very clear" he opposed civil unions as governor of Texas.

An amendment must be approved by two-thirds of both the House and Senate and three-fourths of the states. Polls show that Americans oppose same-sex "marriage" by a 2-to-1 margin. The president pointed to the landmark Massachusetts court decision, as well as actions by San Francisco city officials, as reasons he is supporting an amendment.

"Unless action is taken, we can expect more arbitrary court decisions, more litigation, more defiance of the law by local officials–all of which adds to uncertainty," he said. "After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization. Their actions have created confusion on an issue that requires clarity.

"Activist courts have left the people with one recourse. If we are to prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever, our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America. Decisive and democratic action is needed, because attempts to redefine marriage in a single state or city could have serious consequences throughout the country."

Bush said the Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1996 and signed by President Clinton, is in danger of being overturned by courts. The act defines in federal law the definition of marriage and gives states the option of not recognizing another state’s same-sex "marriage."

But Bush said courts could overturn the act by saying it conflicts with the Constitution’s full faith and credit clause, which says that "full faith and credit" must be given in each state to the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings" of every other state.

"Those who want to change the meaning of marriage will claim that this provision requires all states and cities to recognize same-sex marriage performed anywhere in America," Bush said. "Congress attempted to address this problem in the Defense of Marriage Act, by declaring that no state must accept another state’s definition of marriage. My administration will vigorously defend this act of Congress. Yet, there is no assurance that the Defense of Marriage Act will not itself be struck down by activist courts. In that event, every state would be forced to recognize any relationship that judges in Boston or officials in San Francisco choose to call a marriage.

"America is a free society...," he said. "This commitment to freedom, however, does not require the redefinition of one of our most basic social institutions.