Obergefell v. Kasich

James Obergefell and John Arthur have been together for twenty years. In 2013, John is dying of ALS. He cannot walk, speak clearly, or be moved easily. The couple charters a medical plane to Maryland, where same-sex marriage is legal, and they marry on the tarmac. John dies three months later. When Ohio, their home state, refuses to list James as the surviving spouse on the death certificate, James sues. Ohio's governor John Kasich is named as defendant. The case is joined with several others and reaches the Supreme Court as a single question: must states recognize marriages between same-sex couples?

Obergefell argues that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal protection regardless of sexual orientation, and that being denied a basic civil status, the legal recognition of marriage, causes concrete harms his husband did not deserve. Ohio argues that marriage has been defined as between a man and a woman for the entirety of American history, and that the question of who can marry is one for voters and state legislatures to decide, not courts.

If Obergefell wins, same-sex marriage becomes a constitutional right enforceable in every state. If Ohio wins, marriage equality remains a patchwork: legal in some states, not others, and contingent on who is in power.