North Dakota Legislature close to asking US Supreme Court to undo
landmark same-sex marriage ruling
[March 13, 2025]
By JACK DURA
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota lawmakers are on the verge of making
their state the first to tell the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its
decade-old ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Similar efforts — which would not have any direct sway with the nation's
top courts — have been introduced in a handful of states this year.
North Dakota's resolution passed the Republican-led House in February
but still requires Senate approval, which is not assured.
“The original Supreme Court ruling in 2015 went totally against the
Tenth Amendment, went totally against the North Dakota Constitution and
North Dakota Century Code (state laws),” sponsor Republican Rep. Bill
Tveit said. “Why did I introduce it? Every one of us in this building
took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the
state.”
When the Legislature considers such resolutions, attorney and North
Dakota National Guard member Laura Balliet said she wonders why she
stays in her home state. The measure makes her feel unwanted, unwelcome
and judged because of who she is, she said. She married her wife in
2020.
“I don't know what this resolution does other than to tell people like
myself, my friends and my family that we're not welcome here, and I'm
angry about that because I want to be welcome here. This is my home,”
Balliet told the Senate panel that heard the measure on Wednesday — one
in a stream of opponents who testified against it.
A push across states
Massachusetts-based MassResistance, which describes itself as an
“international pro-family group” but has been labeled "anti-LGBTQ hate
group” by the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization GLAAD, is pushing the
resolution across the country.
Massachusetts became the first state to recognize same-sex marriage, in
2004. Over the next 11 years, most states began to recognize it through
laws, ballot measures or court decisions before the Supreme Court made
it legal nationwide.
Outside of Idaho and North Dakota, the measures have not progressed far,
according to an analysis of legislation collected by the bill-tracking
service Plural.
By contrast, there have been additional protections for same-sex
marriage over the years, including a federal law in 2022. Since 2020,
California, Colorado, Hawaii and Nevada have repealed old constitutional
amendments that defined marriage as being allowed only between a man and
a woman, and Virginia lawmakers advanced a similar measure this year. It
could be on the ballot there in 2026.
Differing views
The North Dakota measure states that the Legislature “rejects” the 2015
Obergefell v. Hodges decision and urges the U.S. Supreme Court “to
overturn the decision and leave unaddressed the natural definition of
marriage as a union between one man, a biological male, and one woman, a
biological female.”
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People listen to opposition testimony on a resolution that would
urge the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 decision that
legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, Wednesday, March 12, 2025,
at the state Capitol in Bismarck, N.D. (AP Photo/Jack Dura)
In the court’s 2022 ruling that overturned the constitutional right
to an abortion, Justice Clarence Thomas said the court should
reconsider its precedents in the marriage decision and other past
cases.
Soon after the measure passed the North Dakota House last month,
several Republican state reps who voted for it stated they meant to
vote no or regretted voting yes.
Republican Rep. Matt Ruby said he wished he had voted against the
measure, saying his yes vote was for a different intent he realized
wasn't going to happen. The vote sent a bad message “that your
marriage isn't valid and you're not welcome,” Ruby said. He said he
supports the right for same-sex couples to be married.
Republican Rep. Dwight Kiefert said he voted for the resolution
because of his Christian faith and that the institution of marriage
was established in the Bible in the Garden of Eden between Adam and
Eve.
‘Slap in the face’
The measure is a slap in the face to North Dakotans who are happily
married and invested in their state, said Democratic Sen. Ryan
Braunberger, who is gay and sits on the Senate panel that heard the
resolution. The measure sends a dangerous message as North Dakota
wants to grow its population and expand economically, he said.
“We want to make sure that we bring everybody in the best of the
crop, and that runs the gamut of all sorts of different races,
ethnicities, sexual orientations through that,” Braunberger said.
The measure is a declaration, if passed, that lawmakers would want
to define marriage through what is arguably a religious lens, which
dangerously gets close to infringing upon the Establishment Clause
of the U.S. Constitution, said Cody Schuler, advocacy manager for
the American Civil Liberties Union's North Dakota chapter.
“Marriage defined as ‘one man, one woman’ is a particular religious
view. It is not held by all religions, all societies or by
nonreligious people, and so therefore it is dangerous to be making
that kind of statement because it puts legislators on record as to
how they might vote on law, on a binding law versus this nonbinding
resolution,” Schuler said.
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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed from Cherry
Hill, New Jersey.
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