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U.S.
Same-Sex Marriage Is a Right, Supreme Court Rules, 5-4
WASHINGTON — In a long-sought victory for the gay rights movement, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Constitution guarantees a nationwide right to same-sex marriage.
Justice
Anthony M. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in the 5 to 4 decision.
He was joined by the court’s four more liberal justices.
The
decision, the culmination of decades of litigation and activism, came
against the backdrop of fast-moving changes in public opinion, with
polls indicating that most Americans now approve of same-sex marriage.
As
in earlier civil rights cases, the Supreme Court had moved cautiously
and methodically, laying careful judicial groundwork for a
transformative decision.
As late as October, the justices ducked the issue, refusing to hear appeals
from rulings allowing same-sex marriage in five states. That decision
delivered a tacit victory for gay rights, immediately expanding the
number of states with same-sex marriage to 24, along with the District
of Columbia, up from 19.
Largely as a consequence of the Supreme Court’s decision not to act, the number of states allowing same-sex marriage has since grown to 36, and more than 70 percent of Americans live in places where gay couples can marry.
The court did not agree to resolve the issue for the rest of the nation until January, in cases filed by gay and lesbian couples in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The court heard extended arguments in April, and the justices seemed sharply divided over what the Constitution has to say about same-sex marriage.
Lawyers
for the plaintiffs said their clients had a fundamental right to marry
and to equal protection, adding that the bans they challenged demeaned
their dignity, imposed countless practical difficulties and inflicted
particular harm on their children.
The
Obama administration, which had gradually come to embrace the cause of
same-sex marriage, was unequivocal in urging the justices to rule for
the plaintiffs.
“Gay
and lesbian people are equal,” Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr.
said. “They deserve equal protection of the laws, and they deserve it
now.”
Same-Sex Marriage
The court decided in
Obergefell v. Hodges and three related cases that the Constitution
guarantees a right to same-sex marriage. Full analysis »
5-4
MAJORITY
Sotomayor
Kagan
Ginsburg
Breyer
Kennedy
Roberts DISSENTED
Scalia
Alito
Thomas
• Same-sex couples can marry in
three dozen states, but federal appeals courts have been divided over
whether states must allow same-sex couples to marry and recognize such
marriages performed elsewhere.
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