Obergefell v. Hodges

"The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in our own times."

"Marriage responds to the universal fear that a lonely person might call out only to find no one there."

"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."

"The history of marriage is one of both continuity and change."

"The right to marry is fundamental because it supports a two-person union unlike any other in its importance to the committed individuals."

"This is true for all persons, same-sex or opposite-sex."

"Marriage has long been a keystone of the Nation's social order."

"The transformation of the institution of marriage, discussed at length above, would strengthen, not weaken, the institution."

"Were the law to exclude same-sex couples from marrying, this evasion of the issue would be unjust."

"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, sacrifice, and family."

"In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were."

"The limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples may long have seemed natural and just."

"That assumption no longer can justify denying that right to same-sex couples."

"The Constitution honors the spiritual transcendence of the marriage relation and protects the liberty of all persons to choose to enter into marital bonds."

"Laws once valid will fall away as their justifications expire."

"This history should bind the nation together, not divide it."

"The dynamic of our constitutional system is that individuals need not deferentially accept the wisdom of a prior generation."

"The identification and protection of fundamental rights is an enduring part of the judicial duty to interpret the Constitution."

"That duty requires the Court not to retreat when bigotry takes the form of law."

"Same-sex couples are consigned to an instability many opposite-sex couples would deem intolerable."

"The plaintiffs in these cases seek the same right to marry as heterosexual couples."

"The reasons why same-sex couples have the same right to marry as opposite-sex couples is rooted in the constitutional principles of equal protection and due process."

"Marriage is a foundation of the American social order."

"The liberty interest in marrying a person of the same sex is as real and profound as the liberty interest in marrying a person of the opposite sex."

"An individual cannot separate the personal complexities of marriage from the personal right to marry."

"The Court has recognized that new insights and societal understandings can reveal unjustness in laws once thought necessary and proper."

"Federal courts will always have the responsibility to guard against laws that diminish the liberty of all."

"The Nation's laws embodying the tradition of man and woman as the core of the definition of marriage reflect most deeply rooted values."

"But still, the question must be whether the commitment is to the marriage between two people, not the gender of the two people."