obergefell v hodges

Having decided two years prior to the day that the Defence of Marriage Act was unconstitutional and a violation of the principle of equal administration of justice enshrined in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, the US Supreme Court, by dint of the same argument, ruled on this day in 2015 that the right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples as it would be to heterosexual couples, with all the rights and responsibilities pertaining thereto. Prior to this decision, thirty-six states recognised marriage within their jurisdictions but there was no national consensus. To celebrate the civil rights triumph, the White House was illuminated in rainbow colours on the evening of the ruling.