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In a historic and sweeping 5-4 ruling Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. Justice Anthony Kenned delivered the majority opinion, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer.
Four justices — Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and Chief Justice John Roberts — dissented, and in a rare move, all filed seperate dissents. For the first time, Justice Roberts read his dissent from the bench.
Broadly, the majority found the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment protects the right of same-sex couples to marry, as marriage is a "fundamental liberty" that cannot arbitrarily be denied. Those dissenting found no such constitutional basis, and accused the majority essentially of "discovering" a new right.
Here are highlights from Kennedy's majority opinion, and the four dissents.
Kennedy's majority opinion:
"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodiesthe highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice,and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage.
Their plea is that they dor espect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find itsfulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemnedto live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization'soldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in theeyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right." [Page 33]
Roberts' dissent:
"If you are among the many Americans — of whatever sexual orientation — who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today's decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits. But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it." [Page 68]
Scalia's dissent:
"The opinion is couched in a style that is as pretentious as its content is egotistic. It is one thing for separate concurring or dissenting opinions to contain extravagances, even silly extravagances, of thought and expression; it is something else for the official opinion of the Court to do so. Of course the opinion's showy profundities are often profoundly incoherent." [Pages 75-76]
"If, even as the price to be paid for a fifth vote, I ever joined an opinion for the Court that began: 'The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity, 'I would hide my head in a bag.
"The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie." [Page 76]
Thomas' dissent:
"Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved. Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them. And those denied governmental benefits certainly do not lose their dignity because the government denies them those benefits.
"The government cannot bestow dignity, and it cannot take it away." [Page 94]
Alito's dissent:
"Today's decision shows that decades of attempts torestrain this Court's abuse of its authority have failed. A lesson that some will take from today's decision is that preaching about the proper method of interpreting the Constitution or the virtues of judicial self-restraint andhumility cannot compete with the temptation to achievewhat is viewed as a noble end by any practicable means." [Pages 102-103]
