Obergefell v. Hodges (576 U.S. 644)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 26, 2015 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 576 U.S. 644 · 135 S. Ct. 2584
- Decided
- June 26, 2015
- Term
- October Term 2014
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Kennedy
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
- Constitutional ruling
- State/territorial law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court. The Constitution promises libertyto all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity. The petitioners in these cases seek to find that liberty by marrying someone of the same sex and having their marriages deemed lawful on the same terms and conditions as marriages between persons of the opposite sex. I These cases come from Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee, States that define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. See, e.g., Mich. Const., Art. I, § 25 ; Ky. Const. § 233A ; Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 3101.01 (Lexis 2008) ; Tenn. Const., Art. XI, § 18. The petitioners are 14 same-sex couples and two men whose same-sex partners are deceased. The respondents are state officials responsible for enforcing the laws in question. The petitioners claim the respondents violate the Fourteenth Amendment by denying them the right to marry or to have their marriages, lawfully performed in another State, given full recognition. Petitioners filed these suits in United States District Courts in their home States. Each District Court ruled in their favor. Citations to those cases are in Appendix A, infra . The respondents appealed the decisions against them to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. It…
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