Scotus decision gay marriage

​Obergefell v. Hodges

Same-sex marriage has been controversial for decades, but tremendous progress was made across the United States as states individually began to lift bans to same-sex marriage.  Before the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015) was decided, over 70% of states and the District of Columbia already recognized same-sex marriage, and only 13 states had bans.  Fourteen same-sex couples and two men whose same-sex partners had since passed away, claimed Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee violated the Fourteenth Amendment by denying them the right to marry or have their legal marriages performed in another state recognized. 

All district courts found in favor of the plaintiffs.  On appeal, the cases were consolidated, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and held that the states' bans on same-sex marriage and refusal to acknowledge legal same-sex marriages in other jurisdictions were not unconstitutional.  

Among several arguments, the respondents asserted that the petitione

Some Republican lawmakers increase calls against gay marriage SCOTUS ruling

Conservative legislators are increasingly speaking out against the Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage equality.

Idaho legislators began the trend in January when the state House and Senate passed a resolution calling on the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision -- which the court cannot do unless presented with a case on the issue. Some Republican lawmakers in at least four other states like Michigan, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota have followed suit with calls to the Supreme Court.

In North Dakota, the resolution passed the declare House with a vote of 52-40 and is headed to the Senate. In South Dakota, the state’s House Judiciary Committee sent the proposal on the 41st Legislative Daytime –deferring the bill to the final day of a legislative session, when it will no longer be considered, and effectively killing the bill.

In Montana and Michigan, the bills have yet to deal with legislative scrutiny.

Resolutions have no legal authority and are not binding law, but instead allo

Quick Hits

  • June 26, 2025, marked the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision recognizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
  • The Obergefell v. Hodges decision had important legal implications for employers’ benefit plans.
  • Existing federal law bans discrimination in hiring and firing on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation, while twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., also have laws banning workplace discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Ten years ago, the Supreme Court decided in Obergefell v. Hodges to give all same-sex couples in the United States the right to marry. The case arose from challenges to Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee laws that banned same-sex marriages and refused to recognize legally valid same-sex marriages performed in other states.

The Court answered two questions. First, does the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment require states to license a marriage between two people of the alike sex? Second, does the Constitution require a mention to recognize a marriage between two people

Obergefell v. Hodges

Overview

Obergefell v. Hodges is a landmark case in which on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States held, in 5-4 decision, that state bans on same-sex marriage and on recognizing same sex marriages duly performed in other jurisdictions are unconstitutional under the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy asserted that the right to marry is a fundamental right “inherent in the liberty of the person” and is therefore protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits the states from depriving any person of “life, liberty or property without the due process of law.” The marriage right is also guaranteed by the equal protection clause, by virtue of the shut connection between liberty and equality. In this decision Justice Kennedy also declared that “the reason marriage is fundamental…apply with equal force to same-sex couples”, so they may “exercise the fundamental right to marry.”  The majority dec