Justice Kennedy's Opinion, Obergefell v. Hodges

Clarion words from Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion in the Supreme Court decision making Equal Marriage the Law of the Land.

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the 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 that may endure even past death.  It would misunderstand these men and women to say they respect the idea of marriage.  Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves.  Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions.  They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law.  The Constitution grants them that right.  The Judgement of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed. 

It is so ordered. 

Thoughts on Marriage Equality

Only a few years ago, the idea of same-sex unions--marriage equality--was new in the American States.  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts consider marriage equality early on, and in an early court ruling on the matter, Judge Margaret Marshall describe the significance of marriage for all committed couples. 

“Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support; it brings stability to our society. For those who choose to marry, and for their children, marriage provides an abundance of legal, financial, and social benefits. In return it imposes weighty legal, financial, and social obligations....Without question, civil marriage enhances the "welfare of the community."
It is a "social institution of the highest importance. ...

Marriage also bestows enormous private and social advantages on those who choose to marry. Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family.... Because it fulfils yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution, and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life's momentous acts of self-definition.”

Photo by John Mazlish Weddings