U.S. Supreme Court Rules Same-sex Marriage Legal
by June 26, 2015 8:28 am 116 views
The United States Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex marriage in the United States is legal, granting marriage rights to couples on a politically divided issue.
In the 5-4 ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges, the court ruled that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment superceded both state and federal law on the issue.
Voting in the majority were justices Anthony Kennedy, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.
Voting in the minority were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The Court has often ruled that marriage is a fundamental right a state cannot restrict without real justification. It has said that prisoners have the right to marry, and so do people too poor to make child support payments. In 1967, the court struck down state bans on interracial marriage. Gay marriage is legal in 36 states.
Discussion on the case was held April 28 in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices.
John Bursch, the lawyer arguing on behalf of the states to retain gay marriage bans, said in the April hearing that promoting families is a “legitimate interest” in Michigan’s right to ban gay marriage.
“Michigan has a legitimate interest in encouraging opposite-sex couples to enter into permanent, exclusive unions within which to have and raise children,” Bursch argued. “Having that diversity of both the mother and a father can be a good thing for children.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 82, asked Bursch the following question after his argument that heterosexual marriage was to ensure a stable relationship for procreation: “Suppose a couple, a 70-year-old couple, comes in and they want to get married? … You don’t have to ask them any questions. You know they are not going to have any children.”
She also said changing the definition does nothing to weaken the “rights” of heterosexual marriage.
Justice Anthony Kennedy said during the hearing he was not sure the issue was for the high court to decide.
“This definition has been with us for millennia, and I think it’s very difficult for this court to say, ‘Oh well, we know better,’” Kennedy said according to a Reuters report.
There have been several high-profile rulings and actions in Arkansas related to same-sex marriage.
In late April, the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals delayed a decision on the constitutionality of Arkansas’ ban on same-sex marriage pending the outcome of the case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Approved by Arkansas voters in 2004, Amendment 83 banned gay marriage in the state.
In May 2014, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled that Arkansas’ ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. Licenses were issued briefly in some counties across the state, but a stay was eventually issued halting same sex marriages in Arkansas while the case goes through the appeals process. Following that, U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker ruled in November 2014 that the ban was unconstitutional, but stayed her ruling allowing for an appeal.
Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen ruled June 9 that same-sex couples who married May 10-16, 2014 in Arkansas as a result of Piazza’s ruling, must be provided the same access to state employee benefits as male-female married couples.