US Supreme Court Ruling on Same-Sex Marriage -Wednesday June 26,2013

In a landmark ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court forced the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in states where it is legal and in a separate ruling it cleared the way for same-sex marriages in California.

The Defense of Marriage Act, the law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by the states, is unconstitutional, the SC Ruled on Wednesday June 26,2013 by a 5-4 vote

Justice Kennedy delivered the SC's opinion  and was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito all filed dissenting opinions.Justice Clarence Thomas joined Scalia's dissent in whole and parts of Alito's opinion.


The SC decided two cases on Wednesday june 26,2013.

 In the first case, the court struck down part of the national Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman. That will extend over 1,000 federal benefits to married gay couples.

In the second case, over California's Proposition 8 marriage ban, the justices had the opportunity to issue broad national guidance on the constitutional rights of gay couples to marry. However, the high court decided the case on procedural grounds which may allow gay marriage in California but leaves other states to decide for themselves