Question

Obergefell v. Hodges"
by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy

A third basis for protecting the right to marry is that it safeguards children and families and thus draws meaning from related rights of childrearing, procreation, and education. The Court has recognized these connections by describing the varied rights as a unified whole: "[T]he right to 'marry, establish a home and bring up children' is a central part of the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause." Under the laws of the several States, some of marriage's protections for children and families are material. But marriage also confers more profound benefits. By giving recognition and legal structure to their parents' relationship, marriage allows children "to understand the integrity and closeness of their own family and its concord with other families in their community and in their daily lives." Marriage also affords the permanency and stability important to children's best interests.

As all parties agree, many same-sex couples provide loving and nurturing homes to their children, whether biological or adopted. And hundreds of thousands of children are presently being raised by such couples. Most States have allowed gays and lesbians to adopt, either as individuals or as couples, and many adopted and foster children have same-sex parents. This provides powerful confirmation from the law itself that gays and lesbians can create loving, supportive families.

Excluding same-sex couples from marriage thus conflicts with a central premise of the right to marry. Without the recognition, stability, and predictability marriage offers, their children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser. 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. The marriage laws at issue here thus harm and humiliate the children of same-sex couples.



Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015)

Question
Use the excerpt from the Supreme Court majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, written by Justice Kennedy, to answer the question.

Why is Justice Kennedy’s legal reasoning especially effective in this passage?

(1 point)
Responses

It discusses the impact on overall social stability.
It discusses the impact on overall social stability.

It explains the benefits of foster care and adoption.
It explains the benefits of foster care and adoption.

It highlights the punishing qualities of same-sex marriage bans not just on couples but on children and families.
It highlights the punishing qualities of same-sex marriage bans not just on couples but on children and families.

It underscores the right to marriage not just implied in the Constitution but upheld by traditional social n

Answer 1

It highlights the punishing qualities of same-sex marriage bans not just on couples but on children and families.

Explanation: Kennedy shows how exclusion harms children—stigmatizing their families and imposing material instability—thereby broadening the harm beyond adults to vulnerable children and strengthening the constitutional argument.