Tennessee Republicans, a group not known for nuance or subtlety, are having another go at banning same-sex marriages in their state. The method they'll be using this time around is known as the well we don't care what the Supreme Court said, we don't have to abide by them because reasons, aka the ol' jurisprudential nuh-uh double-backsies or whatever.
Known as the "Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act," the bill by Sen. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, and Rep. Jerry Sexton, R-Bean Station, states that the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage is void in Tennessee because the state has already passed its own law and constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman.
This is a repeat of an effort last year that went nowhere, though this version sounds even more ad-hoc: The Tennessean quotes Sexton as saying it's "too early for me to get into the details and say what the exact intent of it is," which sounds suspiciously like the group burped up a new LGBT hate bill to show off to constituents but hasn't bothered to nail down the precise details of how to plausibly argue the bill isn't blatantly a violation of the Court's clear prior orders.
If it passes, the federal government would (presuming Donald J. Trump's band of crooked lackeys bothered to enforce it, which is unlikely) withhold billions in federal aid. It also seems unlikely that even the current Supreme Court, newly stocked with Justice Treason and Justice Beer, would flip such a recent and heralded ruling. But it's not likely to pass.
Instead, it's likely to serve as the cornerstone of another mailing-list effort to raise money from bigots and idiots. It's important, in the Republican Party, to signal maximum intolerance and, especially, an open willingness to defy the all-important "rule of law" when the "rule of law" makes the Fox News crowd sad.