DETROIT – The Supreme Court has declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States.
The majority opinion held that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriage.
"The court now holds that same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry. No longer may this liberty be denied to them," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagen joined his opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito each issued dissenting opinions.
"For years, our five-year-old daughter has been asking us when ‘we' are getting married, meaning the whole family," said Jayne Rowse, a defendant in the Michigan case. "We all thought it was cute, but she's honestly more astute than many politicians in recognizing the importance of marriage for uniting a family."
"The history of marriage is one of both continuity and change," Kennedy's opinion said. "Changes, such as the decline of arranged marriages and the abandonment of the law of coverture, have worked deep transformations in the structure of marriage, affecting aspects of marriage once viewed as essential. These new insights have strengthened, not weakened, the institution. Changed understandings of marriage are characteristic of a Nation where new dimensions of freedom become apparent to new generations."
In his dissent, Roberts argued that by declaring gay marriage a right they overstepped their constitutional bounds into the realm of legislative matters.
"Today, however, the Court takes the extraordinary step of ordering every State to license and recognize same-sex marriage," Roberts wrote. "Many people will rejoice at this decision, and I begrudge none their celebration. But for those who believe in a government of laws, not of men, the majority's approach is deeply disheartening. Supporters of same-sex marriage have achieved considerable success persuading their fellow citizens—through the democratic process—to adopt their view. That ends today. Five lawyers have closed the debate and enacted their own vision of marriage as a matter of constitutional law."
Scalia's own dissent began by saying he joined Robert's opinion "in full," but was stronger is his claim that the court's majority overstepped its bounds.
"Today's decree says that my Ruler, and the Ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court," wrote Scalia.
However, Kennedy writing for the majority, argued that it is within the Court's constitutional responsibility and consistent with its tradition to identify and protect "fundamental rights" of individuals.
"When new insight reveals discord between the Constitution's central protections and a received legal stricture, a claim to liberty must be addressed," Kennedy wrote.
Alito's dissent also took issue with what he said was the majority's view of what he termed "the fundamental purpose of marriage."
"For millennia, marriage was inextricably linked to the one thing that only an opposite-sex couple can do: procreate," Alito argued.
Gay and lesbian couples already can marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The court's ruling on Friday means the remaining 14 states, including Michigan, will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage.
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