Tag: Justice Kennedy

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Read Justice Kennedy’s Closing Line Making Same-Sex Marriage Legal

From the majority opinion making same-sex marriage the law of the land as written by Supreme Court Justice Kennedy:

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.

(h/t Towleroad)

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SCOTUS: Swing Vote Justice Kennedy Sends Mixed Messages On Marriage Equality

Reuters correspondent David Ingram reports from the live oral arguments for same-sex marriage at the Supreme Court.

Assumed “swing-vote” Justice Kennedy mentioned the idea that marriage has been the same for “millenia:”

Later, Kennedy offered a couple of encouraging signs as he noted that a principal purpose of marriage was to afford dignity, which is denied to same-sex couples. He also said the fact that same-sex couples raise children hurt state’s arguments against marriage equality. Via SCOTUSblog:

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Nevada: Justice Kennedy Clears The Way For Same-Sex Marriage To Begin

On Wednesday afternoon, Justice Anthony Kennedy revised his order from hours earlier so as to declare that same-sex marriages can move forward in Nevada — but not in Idaho, at least for now.

The Supreme Court justice’s original order put on hold a ruling on Tuesday by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which consolidated cases from Nevada and Idaho and struck down both states’ gay marriage bans.

It’s unclear whether Kennedy — who has jurisdiction over appeals within the 9th Circuit — had a change of heart or whether he merely made a mistake in his initial order. But his new order reversed a part of his old order.

“IT IS ORDERED that the portion of the order issued on this date entering a stay of the mandate of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in case No. 12-17668 is hereby vacated,” he wrote, referring to the Nevada case.

The key difference is that Idaho is appealing the 9th Circuit ruling, while Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) announced that his state won’t take further legal action on the issue.

(via Talking Points Memo)