Text of ND HR 5001 (2025)

25.3031.01000 Sixty-ninth Legislative Assembly of North Dakota Introduced by Representatives Tveit, Hoverson A resolution urging the United States Supreme Court to restore the definition of marriage to a union between one man and one woman. WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S.Ct. 2584 (2015), conflicts with the United States Constitution and the principles upon which the United States was established; and WHEREAS, liberty has long been understood as individual freedom from governmental action, not as a right to a particular governmental entitlement; and WHEREAS, Obergefell v. Hodges invokes a definition of liberty the framers of the United States Constitution would not have recognized, rejecting the idea captured in the Declaration of Independence that human dignity is innate, and instead suggesting it comes from the government; and WHEREAS, Obergefell v. Hodges relies on the dangerous fiction of treating the due process clause as a font of substantive rights, a doctrine which strays from the full meaning of the United States Constitution and exalts judges at the expense of the people from whom they derive their authority; and WHEREAS, the framers of the United States Constitution proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights and referred to a vision of mankind in which all humans are created in the image of God and therefore of inherent worth; and WHEREAS, Obergefell v. Hodges undermines this vision by declaring that citizens must seek dignity from the state; and WHEREAS, the Obergefell v. Hodges decision's inversion of the original meaning of liberty causes collateral damage to other aspects of our constitutional order that protect liberty, including religious liberty; and Page No. 1 25.3031.01000 HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 5001 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Sixty-ninth Legislative Assembly WHEREAS, Obergefell v. Hodges requires states to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple and recognize same-sex marriage in complete contravention of a state's own constitution and the will of the state's voters, thus undermining the civil liberties of those states' residents and voters; and WHEREAS, marriage as an institution has been recognized as a union between one man and one woman for more than two thousand years, and within common law, the basis of the United States Anglo-American legal tradition, for more than eight hundred years; and WHEREAS, Obergefell v. Hodges arbitrarily and unjustly rejected the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman in favor of a novel, flawed interpretation of key clauses within the United States Constitution and our nation's legal and cultural precedents; and WHEREAS, court rulings are not laws; only legislatures elected by the people may pass laws; and WHEREAS, Obergefell v. Hodges is an illegitimate overreach; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF NORTH DAKOTA: The House of Representatives rejects the United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges and urges the United States Supreme Court to reverse the decision and recognize the natural definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the House of Representatives insists on restoring the issue of marriage and enforcement of all laws pertaining to marriage back to the states and the people; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Secretary of State forward a copy of this resolution to the United States Supreme Court. Page No. 2 25.3031.01000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23