Obergefell v. Hodges

Decided June 26, 2015. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 14-556 · 576 U.S. 644 (2015) · Cited 955 times

Holding

The Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out of State.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–4.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Lochner v. New York · 198 U.S. 45 (1905)
• Loving v. Virginia · 388 U.S. 1 (1967)
• Zablocki v. Redhail · 434 U.S. 374 (1978)
• United States v. Windsor · 570 U.S. 744 (2013)
• Griswold v. Connecticut · 381 U.S. 479 (1965)
• Lawrence v. Texas · 539 U.S. 558 (2003)
• Washington v. Glucksberg · 521 U.S. 702 (1997)
• Turner v. Safley · 482 U.S. 78 (1987)
• Bowers v. Hardwick · 478 U.S. 186 (1986)
• Poe v. Ullman · 367 U.S. 497 (1961)
• Skinner v. Oklahoma Ex Rel. Williamson · 316 U.S. 535 (1942)
• Eisenstadt v. Baird · 405 U.S. 438 (1972)
• Meyer v. Nebraska · 262 U.S. 390 (1923)
• Moore v. City of East Cleveland · 431 U.S. 494 (1977)
• M. L. B. v. S. L. J. · 519 U.S. 102 (1996)
• Collins v. City of Harker Heights · 503 U.S. 115 (1992)
• Reno v. Flores · 507 U.S. 292 (1993)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Munn v. Illinois · 94 U.S. 113 (1877)
• Town of Greece v. Galloway · 572 U.S. 565 (2014)
• Baker v. Nelson · 409 U.S. 810 (1972)
• Troxel v. Granville · 530 U.S. 57 (2000)
• United States v. Salerno · 481 U.S. 739 (1987)
• DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services · 489 U.S. 189 (1989)
• Duncan v. Louisiana · 391 U.S. 145 (1968)
• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
• Snyder v. Massachusetts · 291 U.S. 97 (1934)
• Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey · 505 U.S. 833 (1992)
• Olmstead v. United States · 277 U.S. 438 (1928)
• McDonald v. City of Chicago · 561 U.S. 742 (2010)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Pavan v. Smith · 582 U.S. 563 (2017)
• Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization · 597 U.S. 215 (2022)
• Department of State v. Munoz · 602 U.S. 899 (2024)
• Mahmoud v. Taylor · 606 U.S. 522 (2025)
• 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis · 600 U.S. 570 (2023)
• Gutierrez v. Saenz · 606 U.S. 305 (2025)
• Bostock v. Clayton County · 590 U.S. 644 (2020)
• Ramos v. Louisiana · 590 U.S. 83 (2020)
• Gamble v. United States · 587 U.S. 678 (2019)
• Fulton v. Philadelphia · 593 U.S. 522 (2021)
• Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue · 591 U.S. 464 (2020)
• Timbs v. Indiana · 586 U.S. 146 (2019)
• Sessions v. Morales-Santana · 582 U.S. 47 (2017)
• United States v. Vaello Madero · 596 U.S. 159 (2022)
• Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo · 603 U.S. 369 (2024)
• United States v. Sineneng-Smith · 590 U.S. 371 (2020)
• Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Comm'n · 576 U.S. 787 (2015)
• United States v. Skrmetti · 605 U.S. 495 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Anthony McLeod Kennedy’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2015). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).