Supreme Court: Same-Sex Couples Have Right To Marry In All 50 States
BOSTON (CBS/AP) - The United States Supreme Court overturned bans on same-sex marriage Friday, which means gay couples now have the right to marry in all 50 states.
Read: The Supreme Court Decision
Gay and lesbian couples already could marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia.
The court's 5-4 ruling means the remaining 14 states, in the South and Midwest, will have to stop enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage.
The ruling will not take effect immediately because the court gives the losing side roughly three weeks to ask for reconsideration. But some state officials and county clerks might decide there is little risk in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
'NO UNION MORE PROFOUND THAN MARRIAGE'
The outcome is the culmination of two decades of Supreme Court litigation over marriage, and gay rights generally.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, just as he did in the court's previous three major gay rights cases dating back to 1996. It came on the anniversary of two of those earlier decisions.
"No union is more profound than marriage," Kennedy wrote, joined by the court's four more liberal justices.
The stories of the people asking for the right to marry "reveal that they seek not to denigrate marriage but rather to live their lives, or honor their spouses' memory, joined by its bond," Kennedy said.
'OUR LOVE IS EQUAL'
As he read his opinion, spectators in the courtroom wiped away tears after the import of the decision became clear. One of those in the audience was James Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court fight.
Outside, Obergefell held up a photo of his late spouse, John, and said the ruling establishes that "our love is equal." He added, "This is for you, John."
President Barack Obama placed a congratulatory phone call to Obergefell, which he took amid a throng of reporters outside the courthouse.
Speaking a few minutes later at the White House, Obama praised the decision as "justice that arrives like a thunderbolt." He said it was an affirmation of the principle that "all Americans are created equal."
'DO NOT CELEBRATE THE CONSTITUTION'
The four dissenting justices each filed a separate opinion explaining their views, but they agreed that states and their voters should have been left with the power to decide who can marry.
"This court is not a legislature. Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in dissent. Roberts read a summary of his dissent from the bench, the first time he has done so in nearly 10 years as chief justice.
"If you are among the many Americans — of whatever sexual orientation — who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today's decision," Roberts said. "But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it."
Justice Antonin Scalia said he is not concerned so much about same-sex marriage, but about "this court's threat to American democracy." Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas also dissented.
MAURA HEALEY STATEMENT
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, the nation's first openly gay attorney general, was in the courtroom in April when the nine justices heard oral arguments in four states' same-sex marriage cases.
The cases before the court involved laws from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee that define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Those states have not allowed same-sex couples to marry within their borders and they also have refused to recognize valid marriages from elsewhere.
Massachusetts, joined by 15 other states and Washington D.C., submitted a brief in April arguing in favor of gay marriage rights.
Healey released this statement Friday:
"Today's decision by the Supreme Court is a huge victory for the equality and dignity of all Americans. The right to marry the person you love is finally the law of the land, and it's about time. In Massachusetts, we fought for and won this freedom more than 10 years ago. We have seen how marriage equality makes a real difference in the lives of couples and their children, and now the rest of the country will get to see the same. This ruling also ensures that families will not have to worry about losing essential legal protections when they travel or move out-of-state. I am so proud of all of the work that so many put into this effort to make today's ruling a reality."
Massachusetts has allowed gay marriages since 2004. It was the first state to legalize full marriage rights for same sex couples.
390,000 MARRIED SAME-SEX COUPLES
According to a CBS News poll in February, 60 percent of Americans said it should be legal for same-sex couples to marry.
There are an estimated 390,000 married same-sex couples in the United States, according to UCLA's Williams Institute, which tracks the demographics of gay and lesbian Americans.
Another 70,000 couples living in states that do not currently permit them to wed would get married in the next three years, the institute says.
Roughly 1 million same-sex couples, married and unmarried, live together in the United States, the institute says.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
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