The Value of Constitutional Literacy

Abstract

On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that same-sex couples have the constitutional right to marry (Obergefell v. Hodges 2015). Thus, states must issue licenses to same-sex couples who request them and are otherwise eligible to marry, and each state must recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in any other state.

Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy justified the decision on the basis of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause. Under the protection of these two clauses, Kennedy argued, there is a constitutional right to marry and no state has the constitutional right to deny that right to same-sex couples. More specifically, Kennedy posited four principles that he felt compelled the court’s decision. First, the right to personal choice regarding marriage is inherent in the concept of individual autonomy. Second, marriage “supports a two-person union unlike any other in its importance to committed individuals.”