SPA-220 FA4 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Equal Protection Clause, Precedent, Nuclear Family
Maiage ad eual poess
Textbook pages 696-703
➢ Lawrence v. Texas
o Due Process regulation? Kennedy
o Eual potetio iolatio? O’Coo’s ouee
➢ 14th amendment requires both marriage licensing and recognition for same-sex couples
o Equal protection clause also guarantees the right of same-sec couples to marry as the denial of
that right would deny same-sex couples under the law
➢ Court Case: Obergefell v. Hodges (5-4)
o FACTS:
▪ Obergefell and James were refused by the state to recognize same-sex marriage on
death certificates
• Were legally married in MD in 2013
▪ Groups of same-sex couples sued their relevant agencies in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky,
and Tennessee to challege the ostitutioalit of those states’ bans on same-sex
marriage or refusal to recognize legal same-sex marriages that occurred in jurisdictions
that provided for such marriages
▪ Plaitiffs agued that the states’ statutes iolated the Eual Potetio Clause & Due
Process Clause of the 14th amendment
▪ Singled out/Due Process to be denied a right = equal process
▪ Dignity
▪ State justification
• Marriage is good
• Kids – Nuclear family
o Confusion
o Social experiment
o ISSUE: Does the 14th amendment require a state to license a marriage between 2 people of the
same sex?
▪ Does the 14th amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between 2 people of
the same sex that was legally licensed & performed in another state?
o HOLDING:
▪ Held that the Due Process of the 14th guarantees the right to marry as one of the
fundamental liberties it protects, & that the analysis applies to the same-sex couples in
the same manner as it does to opposite-sex couples
▪ Judicial precedent that the right to marry is a fundamental liberty because it is inherent
to the concept of individual autonomy
• It protects the most intimate associations between 2 people, it safeguards
children & families by according legal recognition to building a home & raising
children, & it has historically been recognized as the keystone of social order
o Bc there are no differences with respect to these principles
▪ Held that the 1st amendment protects the rights of religious organizations to adhere to
thei piiples, ut it does’t allow states to deny same-sex couples the right to marry
➢ Court case: United States v. Windsor (5-4)
o FACTS:
▪ The Defese of Maiage At 1996 states that the ods aiage ad spouse
efe to legal uios etee oe a ad oe oa
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