Breaking News: U.S. Supreme Court Delivers Historic Victory For Gay Rights, Affirms Right To Marry
WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 26, 2015 (UPI & Gephardt Daily) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that states are constitutionally compelled to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, legalizing gay marriage nationwide.
The court ruled in a 5-4 decision. Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan voted in the majority.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
To rule on the case, the Supreme Court Justices determined if the Fourteenth Amendment extended to same-sex couples.
Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment in the Constitution of the United States states:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States… are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Justices had to determine if the amendment requires states to license marriages for same-sex couples and if the amendment requires states to recognize marriages between same-sex couples who were married lawfully in another state.
The states that have current constitutional or statutory bans on same-sex marriage are Texas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan.
More than 40 lawyers worked for same-sex couples from Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee in cases that were consolidated from six to one, Obergefell v. Hodges, which was taken for the Supreme Court’s consideration.
The case centers around Jim Obergefell, 48, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Obergefell and John Arthur began dating in 1993.
Arthur was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig‘s Disease, in 2011 — two years before the Supreme Court allowed the federal government to recognize same-sex marriage in states that allowed it.
In 2013, Obergefell and Arthur married on the tarmac of a Baltimore, Md., airport because Ohio did not recognize same-sex marriage. The couple filed a lawsuit against Ohio to have their marriage formally recognized on Arthur’s death certificate.
Arthur died three months after their wedding.
A federal judge ruled in favor of Obergefell and Arthur, but Ohio appealed and won, which took the case to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruled Friday that states are constitutionally compelled to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, legalizing gay marriage nationwide.
The court ruled in a 5-4 decision. Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan voted in the majority.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
To rule on the case, the Supreme Court Justices determined if the Fourteenth Amendment extended to same-sex couples.
Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment in the Constitution of the United States states:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States… are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Justices had to determine if the amendment requires states to license marriages for same-sex couples and if the amendment requires states to recognize marriages between same-sex couples who were married lawfully in another state.
The states that have current constitutional or statutory bans on same-sex marriage are Texas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan.
More than 40 lawyers worked for same-sex couples from Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee in cases that were consolidated from six to one, Obergefell v. Hodges, which was taken for the Supreme Court’s consideration.
The case centers around Jim Obergefell, 48, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Obergefell and John Arthur began dating in 1993.
Arthur was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig‘s Disease, in 2011 — two years before the Supreme Court allowed the federal government to recognize same-sex marriage in states that allowed it.
In 2013, Obergefell and Arthur married on the tarmac of a Baltimore, Md., airport because Ohio did not recognize same-sex marriage. The couple filed a lawsuit against Ohio to have their marriage formally recognized on Arthur’s death certificate.
Arthur died three months after their wedding.
A federal judge ruled in favor of Obergefell and Arthur, but Ohio appealed and won, which took the case to the Supreme Court.
