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The Supreme Court Hearing on Obergefell v. Hodges, Also Known As The Same-Sex Marriage Case

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Cake toppers for same sex marriages

No clear answers on same-sex marriage: In Plain English

The Supreme Court’s Blog, SCOTUSblog, has weighed in on the court’s hearings today: 

“It could turn out to be a nailbiter.  After two-and-a-half hours of oral argument in the same-sex marriage cases, it was not clear where Justice Anthony Kennedy – and therefore the rest of the Court – was headed. Let’s talk about the oral argument in Plain English.”

Read more at the ScotusBlog site

Right: A symbolic marriage cake in favor of allowing gay marriages in Italy not only to heterosexual couples but to lesbian and gay ones as well. Picture by Giovanni Dall’Orto, January 26 2008. Wikimedida Commons

http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2014/14-556-q1

http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2014/14-556-q2

Update:   The audiotapes of the hearing — first, a ninety-minute tape on the marriage issue (question one) , followed by a one-hour tape on the marriage-recognition issue — have been posted and the second question is being streamed on the Court’s website and can be listened to.

Anyone interested in the proceedings will be able to access the recording and transcript directly through links on the homepage of the Court’s Website and those links above. The Court’s Website address is www.supremecourt.gov.

The New York Times has commented on the hearings:

GAY MARRIAGE ARGUMENTS DIVIDE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES

The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed deeply divided about one of the great civil rights issues of the age: whether the Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry.
They appeared to clash over not only what is the right answer but also over how to reach it. The questioning illuminated their conflicting views on history, tradition, biology, constitutional interpretation, the democratic process and the role of the courts in prodding social change.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said he was concerned about changing a conception of marriage that has persisted for millennia. Later, though, he expressed qualms about excluding gay families from what he called a noble and sacred institution. Chief Justice John C. Roberts Jr. worried about shutting down a fast-moving societal debate.
In the initial questioning, which lasted about 90 minutes, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. asked whether groups of four people must be allowed to marry, while Justice Antonin Scalia said a ruling for same-sex marriage might require some members of the clergy to perform the ceremonies, even if they violate their religious teaching.
Justice Stephen G. Breyer described marriage as a fundamental liberty. And Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan said that allowing same-sex marriage would do no harm to the marriages of opposite-sex couples.

READ MORE »

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/us/supreme-court-same-sex-marriage.html?emc=edit_na_20150428&nlid=4010090&_r=0

The Scotus Blog: Same-sex marriage: The decisive questions

The New York Times has devoted a page of sources for information on the topic: 
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/same_sex_marriage/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier 

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