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In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that states can not prevent same-sex couples from marrying and must recognize their marriages from other states. In the majority opinion by Justice Kennedy it is stated:
The Court, in this decision, holds same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry in all States. It follows that the Court also must hold—and it now does hold—that there is no lawful basis for a State to refuse to recognize a lawful same-sex marriage performed in another State on the ground of its same-sex character.
...and:
It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed. It is so ordered.
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Interesting) by linuxrocks123 on Friday June 26 2015, @09:07PM
Regardless of your politics, Scalia is a great and highly principled justice, and you would know this if you followed the Supreme Court as closely as I do. Here's some food for thought: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_v._Johnson [wikipedia.org]
In case the names are too old for you to be familiar with, everyone on the majority side of that decision other than Scalia is widely considered a "liberal" justice. So we have Scalia to thank for preserving free speech in a case where the despicableness of that speech blinded the rest of the court's conservative wing -- along with normal swing vote O'Connor -- to the obviously right conclusion.
So despicable is flag burning to our culture that Congress has tried repeatedly to overturn this decision with a Constitutional amendment. Last time they tried was in the Senate, where they fell one vote short of the 2/3 supermajority necessary to begin the process. You can be sure that Scalia finds flag-burning as despicable as those in Congress attempting to amend the Constitution. But, unlike many in Congress, Scalia takes his job seriously and is not some partisan hack.
It's also worth mentioning that Scalia has filed more concurrences and dissents than almost any other justice on the Supreme Court. That is, he works harder at his job, from which he is constitutionally protected from being fired, than almost any other Supreme Court justice. I think that should count for something, too.
And finally: Scalia and Ginsburg -- who vote together least often (still 70% of the time, though) -- have become close personal friends after serving on the court together. Were he the bigot you imply he is, that probably wouldn't be the case.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 26 2015, @09:29PM
You have fallen victim to the fallacy that hypocrites are hypocrites 100% of time. Of course he didn't get to where he is by being a hypocrite all of the time. However, of all the justices he is the most insistent on his own righteousness. He is very explicit about his own principled reasoning but that righteousness is what makes him so blind to his failings.
And the fact that he and ginsburg are buds only proves that the common experience they have - an experience practically no one else on the planet has and very few are able to understand - creates a strong bond. Maybe they both have little else in their lives to occupy them. Ex-presidents from different parties are often buds too - being members of en elite and powerful club tends to do that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 26 2015, @10:06PM
There's not a single good person in the Supreme Court, from what I see.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 26 2015, @10:53PM
It's also worth mentioning that Scalia has filed more concurrences and dissents than almost any other justice on the Supreme Court. That is, he works harder at his job, from which he is constitutionally protected from being fired, than almost any other Supreme Court justice. I think that should count for something, too.
I think everyone here recognizes that SLOC does not correlate with quality.