Graduation Year
2018
Date of Submission
12-2017
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Government
Reader 1
Christopher Nadon
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2017 Nolan K. Anderson
OCLC Record Number
1088413381
Abstract
On June 26th, 2015 the United States Supreme Court handed down a much anticipated decision answering whether or not the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex.[1] In a divisive 5-4 decision, the majority ruled that marriage as a fundamental liberty applies to same-sex couples. Although, Obergefell v. Hodges was facially related to the LGTBQ movement, in reality, this case was pivotally about the Supreme Court's role in our society. Obergefell was a fisticuff battle between liberal and conservative jurisprudence over the Court’s influence on the democratic process in America. This paper will attempt to show that the majority’s ruling, and the reasoning they used to reach it, was inconsistent with the Framers’ wishes for the role of the Court in our constitutional democracy.
[1] "Obergefell v. Hodges." Oyez, 3 Dec. 2017, www.oyez.org/cases/2014/14-556.
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Nolan, "Modern Supreme Court Jurisprudence Through the Lens of the Federalist Papers, the Anti-Federalist Papers, and Obergefell v. Hodges" (2018). CMC Senior Theses. 1748.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1748
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
