Photo: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

John Becker, right, hugs his friend and fellow LGBT advocate Paul Guequierre, outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 26, 2015, after the court declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the US.

The U.S. Senate has passed theRespect for Marriage Act, a congressional attempt at permanently protecting the right to same-sex marriage.

Senate Majority LeaderChuck Schumerbrought the measure to the floor after a bipartisan group of lawmakers determined they had the votes.

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In a concurring opinion on theRoecase, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the Supreme Court should reconsiderGriswold v. Connecticut, Lawrence v. Texas, andObergefell v. Hodges — the rulings that currently protect the right to buy and use contraceptives without government restriction, the right to a same-sex relationship, and the right to same-sex marriage.

From Thomas' concurring opinion: “… in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell. Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous,’ … we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents…”

Despite the conservative justice’s opinion, national polls showrecord-high supportfor marriage equality.

“The support for marriage equality is so consistent across poll after poll after poll,” David Stacy, government affairs director for theHuman Rights Campaign, told PEOPLE in an earlier interview. “The numbers are ticking up and they’re sticking.”

Supporters of same-sex marriage await the groundbreaking Supreme Court ruling.Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty

Supporters of same sex marriage rally in front of the Supreme Court awaiting a ruling to legalize gay marriage nationwide, on June, 25, 2015 in Washington, DC.

In July, the House passed RFMA in a 267-157 vote, with 47 Republican representatives joining Democrats in defending marriage equality.

On Tuesday, 12Republicans joined Democratsin passing the bill in the Senate, including Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming as well as Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, according to the Associated Press.

Other Republicans noted their stance against the bill early on, with Florida RepublicanMarco Rubio, telling CNN reporter Manu Raju it was “a stupid waste of time” earlier this year.

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Even when DOMA becomes law, it will not be able to require state governments to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples or grant them state-level marriage benefits, as states have the ultimate authority over marriage benefits, second only to the Supreme Court.

What would the bill could do,according to language released this week, is “require the federal government to recognize a marriage between two individuals if the marriage was valid in the state where it was performed” and “guarantee that valid marriages between two individuals are given full faith and credit, regardless of the couple’s sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.”

source: people.com