Same-sex couples in every state should be allowed to marry under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, President Barack Obama tells The New Yorker in an upcoming interview.
The statement is a change from previous comments, when Obama, who personally backs gay marriage, said he thought the matter should be decided by the states. In an interview in the Oct. 27 issue of The New Yorker, Obama said the Supreme Court's best decision since he took office was the rejection of gay marriage appeals from five states.
He said the high court 'was not quite ready' to include gay marriage under the equal protection clause, but Obama thought it was covered under Constitution.
'Ultimately, I think the Equal Protection Clause does guarantee same-sex marriage in all 50 states,' he said. 'But, as you know, courts have always been strategic. There have been times where the stars were aligned and the Court, like a thunderbolt, issues a ruling like Brown v. Board of Education, but that's pretty rare. And, given the direction of society, for the Court to have allowed the process to play out the way it has may make the shift less controversial and more lasting.'
The Obama administration has extended federal benefits to same-sex married couples in state where gay marriage is legal, e ven as public support for same-sex unions grows. In 2003, 37 percent of American supported marriage equality for same-sex couples. That figure has now grown to 59 percent.
Thirty-one states have legalized gay marriage, while 19, including Alabama, have not.
A jab at the GOPObama also took the opportunity to criticize the divided nature of the Court, something he said was caused by its right-leaning members.
'The bulk of my nominees, 20 years ago or even 10 years ago, would have been considered very much centrists, well within the mainstream of American jurisprudence, not particularly fire-breathing or ideologically driven,' Obama said. 'So the fact that now Democratic appointees and Republican appointees tend to vote differently on issues really has more to do with the shift in the Republican Party and in the nature of Republican-appointed jurists.
'Democrats haven't moved from where they were.'
You can read the entire interview here.
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Entities 0 Name: Obama Count: 6 1 Name: American Count: 2 2 Name: Brown v. Board of Education Count: 1 3 Name: Republican Party Count: 1 4 Name: Equal Protection Clause Count: 1 5 Name: Supreme Court Count: 1 6 Name: Barack Obama Count: 1 7 Name: Alabama Count: 1 8 Name: Republican Count: 1 9 Name: The New Yorker Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1uttUJ6 Title: Obama: 'I Think The Equal Protection Clause Does Guarantee Same-Sex Marriage' In All States Description: Posted: President Barack Obama seems to have changed his tune on gay marriage, telling The New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin he believes same-sex couples in all 50 states should be allowed to marry under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
