Obergefell v. Hodges

Table of Contents

Overview

Context

About the Author

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

Impact

Document Text

https://doi.org/10.3735/9781935306870.book-part-079

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Abstract

In Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 5–4 decision that same-sex couples across the United States had an equal right to marry and that states had to recognize legal marriages performed in other states. Obergefell expressly overruled the Court’s previous decision in Baker v. Nelson, in which the justices rendered a one-sentence dismissal in 1972 of a Minnesota appeals case, which held that the issue of same-sex marriage did not rise to “a substantial federal question” and was not properly to be heard before the Court. Obergefell has proved to be a landmark in civil rights legislation and is a reflection of the majority opinion in the United States as the rights of homosexuals and their acceptance as equals has become a legal norm and perhaps a societal norm as well.