SAME-SEX MARRIAGE WINS. 5-4. 

ADDED: The Chief Justice ends his dissenting opinion (PDF):

If you are among the many Americans—of whatever sexual orientation—who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today’s decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits. But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.

That’s flashy and will get attention and lots of commentary, including this from me: Celebrate weddings, not court opinions. Peruse court opinions and decide if the reasoning and the precedents fit together well. Don’t let judicial rhetoric push you around. This outcome was thoroughly predictable because it followed so clearly from the precedent. That was obvious at the oral argument. I haven’t read the decision yet, but I’m going to, and I’m not going to let The Chief Justice tell me what I should or should not celebrate.

AND: “Marriage responds to the universal fear that a lonely person might call out only to find no one there,” wrote Justice Kennedy, explaining the second of 4 reasons why the due process right to marry applies to same-sex couples even though the precedents all assumed marriage was between a man and a woman.

PLUS: A poll: What do you think of the Court’s opinion in the same-sex marriage case?