GOP lawmakers in several states ask Supreme Court to overturn decision legalizing same-sex marriages

Republican lawmakers from several states are trying to get the Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 landmark decision that held the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriage.

Republican lawmakers from Tennessee and Michigan have proposed a new category of "covenant" marriages between "one male and one female," suggesting that high court's decision on the matter, Obergefell v. Hodges, has "confused the American family structure."

"Our reason for doing it is that it pushes the whole idea forward publicly," Brian Camenker, the founder of a Massachusetts organization, MassResistance, who has worked with state lawmakers to write the resolutions, told The New York Times. "It’s a powerful statement for legislators to say, ‘This was a flawed decision,’ even if that statement has no legal standing."

Republican lawmakers from Idaho and North Dakota introduced similar resolutions, but they failed to advance beyond one legislative chamber. 

"To me, it is the proper fight to take up, because it kind of takes care of both pieces," said South Dakota state GOP Rep. Tony Randolph, referring to the argument that issuing same-sex marriage licenses is a states' issue and that society benefits by limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

A resolution to overturn Obergefell in his state failed to get enough votes to pass in a House committee to get a final, full-chamber vote.

"This is not a light subject, so it has the potential to bring quite a bit of heat to an individual," he said. "I will work to get more support this next time around."

Meanwhile, Democrats in Oregon and Virginia have began laying the groundwork to repeal state statutes and constitutional amendments that prohibited same-sex marriages, which could come back into effect if Obergefell is overturned.

"We have to prepare for the worst," Democratic Michigan Sen. Jeremy Moss wrote in a piece for the Detroit Free Press. 

Moss also called for a ballot initiative to protect same-sex marriages in response to his Republican colleagues' recent initiative, according to the Times.