Lawmakers in South Carolina have filed a bill seeking to withdraw recognition of same-sex marriage in the state in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last June.
"I represent the people, and the people have shown several times that they are opposed to this, and are in favour of traditional marriage," Republican state Rep. Bill Chumley said, according to GoUpstate.com and WND.
Chumley was joined by fellow Republican state Rep. Mike Burns in filing the South Carolina Natural Marriage Defense Act that seeks to "define marriage as between one man and one woman."
Derek Black, a University of South Carolina law professor, said it's "the task of the courts to interpret the Constitution and it is the task of legislators to act in accordance with the Constitution and other validly enacted laws."
According to the Tenth Amendment Center, "state non-cooperation would certainly gum up the works, creating, as James Madison foresaw, impediments and obstructions to enforcing the federal demand to recognise gay marriage. It would bar state officials from issuing marriage licences to gay couples, setting up a confrontation with the federal government like we saw in Kentucky."
It predicts that the bill would lose in court.
"Under the original Constitution, marriage was unquestioningly a matter left to the states and the people. In Federalist #45, Madison asserted that all objects that concern 'the lives, liberties and property of the people,' would remain outside federal jurisdiction," it said.
However, it said that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling "represents a usurpation of power."
"Nevertheless, in the American political system today, all courts ... and federal authorities defer to the Supreme Court. ... The effectiveness of the South Carolina Natural Marriage Defense Act would rest entirely on the willingness of the state to maintain resistance," it said.
It said lawmakers in Alabama, Oklahoma and Michigan aim to get the government out of the marriage licensing business altogether.
"This strategy would avoid direct confrontation with the feds and likely prove more effective long-term because it would not be subject to challenge by federal courts," the centre said.
New Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin earlier issued an order to remove clerks' names from marriage licences, benefitting Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples after the June ruling.
The minority in the 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision had warned that it would create constitutional conflicts.
