Assignment Details
Read the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ____(2015), and write a 45-page paper addressing the following:
Summarize the plaintiffs arguments that their substantive due process had been violated.
Summarize the plaintiffs argument that their rights to equal protection under the law had been violated.
Explain the Courts ruling and any prior U.S. Supreme Court cases that may have laid the foundation for this case.
Explain what societal changes influenced the Courts decisions from the time of the 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986) case, in which the Court upheld a Georgia statute that criminalized homosexual sex, to Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003), that overruled Bowers, to the 2015 Obergefell case that recognized same-sex marriage.
Summarize why the dissenting justices disagreed with the majority opinion in Obergefell.
Do you agree with the majority opinion or the dissenting justices? Explain why.
References
Oyez. (n.d.). Bowers v. Hardwick. Retrieved from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1985/85-140
Oyez. (n.d.). Lawrence v. Texas. Retrieved from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-102
Oyez. (n.d.). Obergefell v. Hodges. Retrieved from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2014/14-556