WATCH: Texas Forcing a Supreme Court Standoff Over Marriage

Texas lawmakers want to force the state to openly defy the U.S. Supreme Court. What could go wrong?

Last week, a bill that would force Texas officials to defy the U.S. Supreme Court if it rules in favor of marriage equality failed to make it to a vote. That means the bill has no chance of passing in this session — but the same language could still be slipped into another bill as an amendment.

The recently defeated bill is clearly unconstitutional — a state can't simply pass a law in order to "opt out" of a Supreme Court ruling.

Nevertheless, Republican Rep. Cecil Bell, and nearly every single Republican in the state House, signed a letter in support of the measure, which would defund state offices that obeyed a pre-equality Supreme Court ruling.

Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has refused to clarify his position on defying the Supreme Court. When pressed by a reporter, he simply wouldn't say whether he would enforce a pro-equality ruling, claiming he needed to see the court's ruling before he could discuss a course of action.

Ultimately, any laws that force the state to ignore federal law will almost certainly be overturned eventually. But that could take years and millions of dollars to resolve, during which time LGBT Texans will continue to suffer.