Case Analysis: The Federal Marriage Amendment (MPA)
Under the leadership of President George W. Bush and key members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, the so-called Marriage Protection Act of Federal Marriage Amendment has been introduced in both houses of Congress ("Human Rights Campaign," 1). The purpose of this particular legislation, identified as S.J. Res. 1 and H.J. Res. 9, is to ensure that marriage rights are extended only to heterosexual couples. To a large degree, the legislation represents what President Bush (1) has characterized as an unacceptable form of judicial activism which seeks to redefine marriage.
It is the purpose of this research report to trace the progress of this particular legislation and to identify the legislative processes by means of which law is developed. It is equally important in this re port to present a chronological explanation of the evolution of this particular legislation รป a process which involves subcommittees, committees, floor activity, conferences, and other hearings all geared to ensure that a free debate on the legislation occurs. To that end, the literature will be reviewed and a chronology of key dates in the battle over the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA) will be attached to this report as Appendix A.
The origins of the MPA can be traced to the Clinton administration in which former president, Bill Clinton, signed Congressional legislation known as the Defense of Marriage Act which "defined marriage for purposes of federal law as the legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife (Bush, 1)." The earlier Act, passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 342-67 and the in the Senate by a vote of 85-14, was matched by the passage of similar defense of marriage laws in 38 states, thus expressing what President Bush (1) called "an overwhelming consensus in our country for protecting the institution of marriage." ...