Supreme Court extends
gay marriage nationwide
AP Photo/Nati Harnik
Jun 26, 12:19 PM EDT
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court declared
Friday that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States,
a historic culmination of decades of litigation over gay marriage and gay
rights generally.
Gay and lesbian couples
already could marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The court's 5-4
ruling means the remaining 14 states, in the South and Midwest, will have to
stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage.
A court in Atlanta issued marriage licenses to three
same-sex couples Friday morning, soon after the decision.
Gay rights supporters cheered, danced and wept outside the
court after the decision, which put an exclamation point on breathtaking
changes in the nation's social norms.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote
the majority opinion, just as he did in the court's previous three major gay
rights cases dating back to 1996. It came on the anniversary of two of those
earlier decisions.
"No union is more profound than marriage," Kennedy
wrote, joined by the court's four more liberal justices.
The stories of the people asking for the right to marry
"reveal that they seek not to denigrate marriage but rather to live their
lives, or honor their spouses' memory, joined by its bond," Kennedy said.
As he read his opinion, spectators in the courtroom wiped
away tears after the import of the decision became clear. One of those in the
audience was James Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court fight.
Outside, Obergefell held up a photo of his late spouse,
John, and said the ruling establishes that "our love is equal." He
added, "This is for you, John."
President Barack Obama placed a congratulatory phone call to
Obergefell, which he took amid a throng of reporters outside the courthouse.
Speaking a few minutes later at the White House, Obama
praised the decision as "justice that arrives like a thunderbolt." He
said it was an affirmation of the principle that "all Americans are
created equal."
The four dissenting justices each filed a separate opinion
explaining his views, but they all agreed that states and their voters should
have been left with the power to decide who can marry.
"This court is not a legislature. Whether same-sex
marriage is a good idea should be
of no concern to us," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in dissent. Roberts read a summary of his
dissent from the bench, the first time he has done so in nearly 10 years as
chief justice.
"If you are among the many Americans - of whatever
sexual orientation - who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means
celebrate today's decision," Roberts said. "But do not celebrate the
Constitution. It had nothing to do with it."
Justice Antonin Scalia said he was not concerned so much
about same-sex marriage but about "this court's threat to American
democracy." Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas also dissented.
Several religious organizations criticized the decision and a
group of pastors in Texas vowed to defy it.
Kennedy said nothing in the court's ruling would force
religions to condone, much less perform, weddings to which they object.
The ruling will not take effect immediately because the
court gives the losing side roughly three weeks to ask for reconsideration. But
some state officials and county clerks might follow the lead of the Fulton
County, Georgia, probate court and decide there is little risk in issuing
marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The cases before the court involved laws from Kentucky,
Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee that define marriage as the union of a man and a
woman. Those states have not allowed same-sex couples to marry within their
borders and they also have refused to recognize valid marriages from elsewhere.
Just two years ago, the Supreme Court struck down part of
the federal anti-gay marriage law that denied a range of government benefits to
legally married same-sex couples.
Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor formed
the majority with Kennedy on Friday, the same lineup as two years ago.
The earlier decision in United States v. Windsor did not
address the validity of state marriage bans, but courts across the country,
with few exceptions, said its logic compelled them to invalidate state laws
that prohibited gay and lesbian couples from marrying.
The number of states allowing same-sex marriage has grown
rapidly. As recently as last October, just over one-third of the states
permitted it.
There are an estimated 390,000 married same-sex couples in
the United States, according to UCLA's Williams Institute, which tracks the
demographics of gay and lesbian Americans. Another 70,000 couples living in
states that do not currently permit them to wed would get married in the next
three years, the institute says. Roughly 1 million same-sex couples, married
and unmarried, live together in the United States, the institute says.
The Obama administration backed the right of same-sex
couples to marry. The Justice Department's decision to stop defending the
federal anti-marriage law in 2011 was an important moment for gay rights, and
Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage in 2012.
The states affected by Friday's ruling are: Alabama,
Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, most of
Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.
Supreme Court
Anthony M. Kennedy
is a justice for the U.S. Supreme Court,
and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa
Society.
Note: Stephen G. Breyer
is a justice for the U.S. Supreme Court,
and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa
Society.
Ruth Bader
Ginsburg is a justice for the U.S.
Supreme Court, and a member of the Phi
Beta Kappa Society.
Elena
Kagan is a justice for the U.S.
Supreme Court, and a member of the Phi
Beta Kappa Society.
Sonia Sotomayor
is a justice for the U.S. Supreme Court,
a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society,
and was a member of the Belizean Grove.
Belizean_Grove
is the equivalent to the male-only social group, the Bohemian Club.
George H.W.
Bush is a member of the Bohemian Club, and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
George H. W. Bush New World Order Quotes
Henry A. Kissinger is a member of the Bohemian Club, a director at the
American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant
(think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the International Rescue Committee, Demos, and the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a member of
the Democracy Alliance, and a contributor
for the American Bridge 21st Century.
John Stocks is the
chairman for the Democracy Alliance,
and an executive director for the National
Education Association.
American
Bridge 21st Century was a contributor for the National Education Association.
Demos was a funder for
the National Education Association.
John I. Wilson
was an executive director at the National
Education Association, and is a director at the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
Clifford S.
Asness is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, and supported same-sex
marriage in New York.
International
Rescue Committee is a partner with the ONE
Campaign.
Michelle
Obama was an advocate for the ONE
Campaign, and a lawyer at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
R.
Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Newton
N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
William
M. Daley is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, a trustee at the Third
Way, and was the chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.
Susan
McCue is a trustee at the Third Way,
was Harry Reid’s chief of staff, and
a founding president & CEO for the ONE
Campaign.
Daniel
S. Loeb was a trustee at the Third
Way, and supported same-sex marriage
in New York.
Valerie B. Jarrett
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, and her great uncle is Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Vernon E. Jordan
Jr. is Valerie B.
Jarrett’s great uncle, an
honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a director
at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), the president
emeritus for the Robert Trent Jones Golf
Club (Gainesville, VA), was the president of the Economic Club of Washington, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
David M.
Rubenstein is a co-chairman for the Brookings Institution (think tank), the
president of the Economic Club of
Washington, and a regent for the Smithsonian
Institution.
John G. Roberts
Jr. is an honorary member of the Robert
Trent Jones Golf Club (Gainesville, VA), the chancellor for the Smithsonian Institution, and the chief
justice for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Joseph R. Biden Jr.
is a regent at the Smithsonian
Institution, and the vice president for the Barack Obama administration.
Walter
E. Massey was a regent at the Smithsonian
Institution, and is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP, and an advocate for the ONE
Campaign.
International
Rescue Committee is a partner with the ONE
Campaign.
Clifford S.
Asness is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, and supported same-sex
marriage in New York.
Susan
McCue was a founding president & CEO for the ONE Campaign, Harry Reid’s
chief of staff, and is a trustee at the Third
Way.
Daniel
S. Loeb was a trustee at the Third
Way, and supported same-sex marriage
in New York.
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