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  For Immediate Release  
  Contact: Matt Bisbee  
  Phone: (217) 403-4690 / (217) 649-1754  
July 22, 2004
 
Johnson Says States Like Illinois Can Define Marriage, Regardless of Court Decisions in Other States
 
 
 

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the Marriage Protection Act (H.R. 3313).  U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson (IL-15) has voted in favor of the measure that gives more power to the individual 50 states to make their own determinations on the definition of marriage.

“The Marriage Protection Act is necessary at this time because it removes the federal court system from intervening with state court decisions that define marriage as an institution between one man and one woman,” said Johnson.  “In 1996, Congress passed and then-President Clinton signed into law, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which established that no state has to recognize another state’s same-sex marriage.  Recent federal court decisions in Massachusetts and elsewhere have violated DOMA.  The passage of the Marriage Protection Act removes lawsuits surrounding same-sex marriages completely from the federal court system and gives the state’s court systems authority on this issue.”

H.R. 3313 intends to use the Constitutional authority of Congress to limit the jurisdiction of the federal court system to hear cases that may arise from the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.  The bill provides that:  no federal court will have jurisdiction to hear a case challenging DOMA’s Full Faith and Credit provision, and no federal court will have appellate jurisdiction in a case arising under DOMA’s definition of “marriage” and “spouse” for purposes of federal benefits.  Essentially, The Marriage Protection Act says that no federal court can declare DOMA’s Full Faith and Credit provision as unconstitutional.

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