Did I just hear this correctly? Rhode Island is to recognize SSM done in MA?

Question

Doesn't that lead to the opening of the full faith and credit clause which could force the USSC to consider the subject of SSM?

Answer 1

Rhode Island's Attorney General issued a nonbinding opinion that the state should recognize same sex marriages performed in Massachusetts because there is no Rhode Island law banning same sex marriages. The AG's opinion only pertains to state employees. This opinion also has no federal effect due to existing federal law.

House Resolution 3396 (the so called defense of marriage act) of September 1996 states:
"No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim
arising from such relationship."

When this law was passed, it exempted same sex marriage from the full faith & credit clause but allowed states to recognize such marriages to avoid the law being judged as unconstitutional (which is what happened with Romer v. Evans a few months earlier in May 1996 when the Supreme Court of the United States struck down Colorado's law making gay anti discrimination laws illegal).

Answer 2

They might. What's in the news is the opinion of the state attorney general - it's not binding, just guidance as to what his interpretation of the law is.

Answer 3

Is this going to happen ASAP? I wonder if the NAACP or the CDC or even the ADL knows about this?

Answer 4

Good, they should allow gay marriage, as there is nothing wrong with it.