Supreme Court Overturns Ban On Same-Sex Marriage
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - South Florida same sex couples who are, or get, married will now have that marriage recognized by every state in the union.
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a ban on same sex marriage.
In a 5-4 decision, the justices ruled that states cannot ban gay marriage and states must recognize lawful gay marriages performed out of state.
The decision comes three years after President Barack Obama first voiced his support for gay couples' right to marry. After the decision was made public, President Obama posted on Twitter:
Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else. #LoveWins
— President Obama (@POTUS) June 26, 2015
Less than an hour later, he spoke to the public about the decision.
"This ruling will strengthen all our communities," said the president. "When all Americans are all treated as equal, we are more free."
The president went on to reiterate while opinions on marriage may be different, were are all part of the United States.
"For all our differences we are one people, stronger together than we could ever be alone," said Obama. "America should be very proud."
The case went before the Supreme Court after several lower courts have overturned state bans on gay marriage. Fourteen couples and two widowers challenged the bans.
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, 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 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 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 judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed," Kennedy wrote, joined by the court's four more liberal justices.
Click here to read the whole Supreme Court same-sex marriage ruling.
The four dissenting justices each filed a separate opinion explaining their views.
"But 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.
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.
"The Supreme Court has affirmed what a majority of Floridians and indeed all Americans have come to understand: that the freedom to marry is a precious and fundamental right that we all share under the Constitution, and that no family should be denied that," said ACLU Florida director Howard Simon in a statement. "We are proud of our colleagues from the two ACLU lawsuits that were among the cases that brought about this decision. But more importantly, we are thrilled for the hundreds of thousands of couples and their families for whom this victory has been decades in the making."
"We are thrilled and relieved. Most of all we are secure -- knowing that our relationships and our families will be respected in every part of America," wrote Equality Florida CEO Nadine Smith in a statement. "We're also glad that marriage equality, which we worked so hard to achieve in Florida, is now extended to every state in the country. Since same-sex couples began marrying in Florida, we have seen the beauty of love and commitment. We have seen the joy. We've seen how it brings families together. We're happy that people in other states will get to experience this too."
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.
Prior to Friday, same-sex marriage was a state issue. A majority of states had passed laws allowing for it, including Florida. The Supreme Court ruling really affects 13 states that still banned gay marriage. All agreed they would follow the law but there was a lot of anger over it particularly among Republican politicians.
In response to the ruling, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio issued a statement which read in part:
"I believe that marriage, as the key to strong family life, is the most important institution in our society and should be between one man and one woman. People who disagree with the traditional definition of marriage have the right to change their state laws. That is the right of our people, not the right of the unelected judges or justices of the Supreme Court. This decision short-circuits the political process that has been underway on the state level for years. While I disagree with this decision, we live in a republic and must abide by the law. As we look ahead, it must be a priority of the next president to nominate judges and justices committed to applying the Constitution as written and originally understood."
Presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who supports traditional marriage, was more muted in his comments saying "It is now crucial that as a country we protect religious freedom and the right of conscience and also not discriminate."
Fellow Republican Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen applauded the ruling.
"Our nation was founded on the basis of equal rights and today, the Supreme Court's decision reflected our values," said Ros-Lehtinen in a statement. "The ability to marry is now a right all Americans have and we no longer must wonder why one class of people has been singled out under the law. Simply put, and the majority of Americans would agree, the union of two people in marriage should not be based on gender, but on love."
Years ago, Ros Lehtinen voted to define marriage between a man and woman but did an about face when her own child identified as a transgender.
Senator Bill Nelson agreed.
"Today's ruling reaffirms one of the paramount principles of America that we're all created equal and have the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness," said Nelson.
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.
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