Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015) is a U.S. Supreme Court case holding that under the Fourteenth Amendment states must both license marriages between two people of the same sex and recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states. Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion concluded that marriage is a fundamental right protected by the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, that excluding same-sex couples imposes stigma, denies them dignity, and burdens their children, and that the principles of liberty and equality require full access to marriage on the same terms as opposite-sex couples. The Court reversed the Sixth Circuit’s decisions and invalidated state laws limiting civil marriage to opposite-sex couples.
For additional information, see the Wex entry on Obergefell v. Hodges.