GOP SEEKS TO BUILD SUPPORT FOR SSM BAN: From the San Francisco Chronicle

House Republican leaders who fear they don't have the votes to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage -- are considering a test vote in July to gauge support for the measure.

Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas said this week he did not want to bring up the proposed amendment unless it can pass, and he doesn't think the Senate should do so, either. That was a jab at Senate GOP leaders who have scheduled debate on the Federal Marriage Amendment for the week of July 12, even though the measure's most ardent supporters think it will fall far short of the required two-thirds majority there and may not even get the 60 votes needed to overcome a likely filibuster.

"I personally think that the Senate really should vote on this when they have the votes to pass it," DeLay said. "That's what we are trying to do. We are looking at other alternatives, other kinds of votes that we might have on this to generate debate and generate support out in the nation." DeLay said Republicans have not yet decided what the test measure will be, but that it would provide "some sort of vote in July in anticipation of growing the vote so that we can actually pass a constitutional amendment."

He added that if the Senate votes on the amendment and it fails, "it is incumbent on the House to pass an amendment to put pressure back on the Senate to have a vote again."

A contender for the House test vote is a bill that would use an obscure clause in the Constitution to strip federal courts of any jurisdiction over the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which permits states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages in other states and denies to lesbian and gay couples any federal benefits tied to marriage. The measure has also struggled for support.

Some social conservatives have argued that Indiana Rep. John Hostettler's proposal, the Marriage Protection Act, provides an alternative for the many Republicans who oppose same-sex marriage but do not want to amend the Constitution and deprive states of their long-standing authority over marriage laws.

The act invokes the Constitution's "exceptions clause" in Article 3, which states that the lower federal courts have jurisdiction over federal laws "with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make." The clause is seldom invoked, but it was used by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., in 2002 to prohibit federal courts from hearing environmental challenges to timber clearing in South Dakota's Black Hills. ...

But Martin Redish, a Northwestern University law professor, testified that while the Constitution does give Congress such authority, using it is dangerous. "This is a very powerful authority," carrying potentially "very negative consequences," Redish warned.

Christopher Anders, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said GOP leaders might also attach a same-sex marriage ban to the spending bill for the District of Columbia, a measure often used as a testing ground for social issues because its scope is limited to the city of Washington.

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posted by Eve at 10:16 PM VOTE

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