U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Landmark Marriage Equality Case
Nation’s highest court has opportunity to affirm equal rights no matter where a person lives
(PRESS RELEASE) Today the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in four consolidated cases on marriage equality in the U.S. challenging state bans on same-sex marriage.
The Court’s review of Obergefell v. Hodges—which was consolidated with Tanco v. Haslam, DeBoer v. Snyder, and Bourke v. Beshear—will consider whether it is constitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment for states to ban same-sex marriage and refuse to recognize same-sex couples’ legal marriages obtained in other states.
Said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights:
“With this historic case, the Supreme Court has a critically important opportunity to once again affirm the equal rights guaranteed to every one of us living in the U.S., no matter where we live.
“Today we stand alongside the LGBT community in support of full marriage equality across the country and urge the nation’s highest court to rule in favor of every American’s right to equal protection and dignity under the Constitution.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights joined the National Women’s Law Center amicus brief in the case, which argues that laws discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, such as the marriage bans at issue in these cases, must be subject to heightened scrutiny under the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee, like laws that discriminate on the basis of sex or race.
