Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the opinion legalizing same-sex marriage. Here's why he says it won't be overturned

"The cost of excluding same-sex couples from the benefits of marriage undergirded much of the ruling. Without the recognition, stability, and predictability marriage offers, their children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser, Kennedy wrote in the opinion. They also suffer the significant material costs of being raised by unmarried parents, relegated through no fault of their own to a more difficult and uncertain family life."

"Kennedy was joined by four other justices for a bare majority. Dissenting were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, all of whom remain on the bench. (The fourth dissenter, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, was so angered that he stopped joining the justices' regular lunches and barely spoke to Kennedy, reconciling in February 2016, just days before his death.)"

Obergefell v. Hodges recognized a right to same-sex marriage under the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantees of liberty and equal protection. The ruling noted that hundreds of thousands of children are adopted or raised by gay or lesbian parents, a reality that shaped the reasoning. Exclusion from marriage deprives families of recognition, stability, and predictability, producing stigma and material hardship for those children. The decision carried a 5-4 majority. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, with Antonin Scalia as the fourth dissenter prior to his 2016 death. The ruling remains controversial and has faced calls for reconsideration.

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