LEGALIZATION OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Obergefell v. Hodges

THE CASE THAT LEGALIZED SAME-SEX MARRIAGE:

On June 26th, 2015, the Supreme Court decided 5-4 that the Fourteenth Amendment requires all states to grant marriage to same-sex couples and recognize same-sex marriages that were performed in other states.

Originally, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States, including formerly enslaved people. It also guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” The so-called Equal Protection clause of this amendment were crucial to the Supreme Court’s Decision. The Court affirmed that banning same-sex marriage violates this clase.

Obergefell v. Hodges is a landmark Supreme Court case wherein the Supreme Court of the United States of America ruled that the right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples. This ruling required that all 50 states perform marriages for and recognize the marriages of same-sex couples on the same terms as the marriages of opposite-sex couples.

The Fourteenth Amendment states that: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”