Supreme Court Makes Same-Sex Marriage Legal Nationwide

With guest host Jane Clayson.

In an historic 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court decides same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that gay marriage is now the law of the land. States now must allow same sex couples to marry and they must respect same sex marriages from other states. That means 14 states that don’t allow same sex marriage now have to fall in line with the others. The majority decision was written by Justice Kennedy, just as he did in the court's previous three major gay rights cases dating back to 1996. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the dissent. We’ll unpack it all. This hour On Point: Same-sex marriage, law of the land.
-Jane Clayson

Neomi Rao, associate professor at the George Mason University Law School.

Kermit Roosevelt, Constitutional law professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Law School.

Camilla Taylor, marriage project director at Lambda Legal.

Karen Tumulty, national political correspondent for the Washington Post (@ktumulty)

Edward Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he also directs the center's program on the Constitution, the Courts and the Culture. (@EdWhelanEPPC)

SCOTUSblog: read the full text of the Supreme Court opinion here.

Washington Post: Supreme Court affirms gay couples' right to marry: "The court’s action marks the culmination of an unprecedented upheaval in public opinion and the nation’s jurisprudence. Advocates called it the most pressing civil rights issue of modern times, while critics said the courts had sent the country into uncharted territory by changing the traditional definition of marriage."

NPR: Here's how same-sex marriage laws will now change nationwide "Before the ruling, 13 states had same-sex marriage bans in place. The majority of the 37 states that recognized gay marriage did so as a result of federal court action. Those states' statuses had been in question with this ruling. The court could have instead upheld bans, which might have meant some of those states could have gone back to prohibiting gay marriage."