Dana Nessel speaks to the audience at the DNC Congress
Dana Nessel delivers a speech at the DNC convention.
CHICAGO – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel sent a clear message to any Republican or member of the U.S. Supreme Court considering repealing same-sex marriage protections.
“You can rip this wedding ring out of my cold, dead, gay hand,” Nessel said, improvising a line from the prepared text of a short speech she gave in support of the election of Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“And I’m holding back a lot of water,” she added, “so good luck.”
Nessel’s speech followed shortly after a series of clips showing Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate and former prosecutor, harshly questioning bureaucrats and then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as a U.S. senator for California before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Michigan’s attorney general pointed out that Harris, then California’s attorney general, had refused to defend that state’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2011. “She refused to argue that some families had fewer rights than others,” Nessel said. “That meant a lot to her. She fought for families like mine.”
At the time, Michigan also had a same-sex marriage ban, but that ban was overturned in June 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a handful of cases, including one from Michigan involving Hazel Park couple April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, that same-sex marriage bans across the U.S. were unconstitutional. One of DeBoer and Rowse’s lead attorneys was Nessel, who had his own firm at the time.
The Supreme Court had previously found that a ban on same-sex marriage in California was unconstitutional. At least one conservative justice on the court, Justice Clarence Thomas, has written about a possible reconsideration and overturn of the same-sex marriage decision.
Nessel said she faced a similar situation to Harris as attorney general when the U.S. Supreme Court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling guaranteeing a right to abortion in 2022. Michigan had a longstanding — and long-dormant — restrictive abortion law at the time.
But Harris, then a senator, “supported me,” Nessel said. “She reminded me, ‘Our job is to protect people’s lives and defend their rights.'” Nessel refused to enforce the 1931 law, and Michigan overwhelmingly enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution in a referendum later that year.
Nessel also praised Harris’ record as attorney general, pointing out that she has pursued polluters, sex offenders and transnational gangs. “But what really stands out is how she has stood up and protected the freedoms of her constituents.”
“We know she has actually read the Constitution when she swears an oath to preserve, protect and defend it,” Nessel said. And in a swipe at her opponent, former Republican President Donald Trump, who was convicted in a New York hush money trial and faces further charges, she added: “Kamala knows that you go from the courthouse to the White House, not the other way around.”
Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.
