Bourke v. Beshear

Love v. Beshear redirects here, as it was consolidated with this case on appeal. It is discussed alongside.

Bourke v. Beshear
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 28, 2015
Full case nameGregory Bourke, et al., Petitioners v. Steve Beshear, Governor of Kentucky
Related casesObergefell v. Hodges, DeBoer v. Snyder, Tanco v. Haslam.
Case history
PriorBourke v. Beshear, 996 F. Supp. 2d 542 (W.D. Ky. 2014); Love v. Beshear, 989 F. Supp. 2d 536 (W.D. Ky. 2014); reversed sub. nom., DeBoer v. Snyder, 772 F.3d 388 (6th Cir. 2014); cert. granted, 135 S. Ct. 1041 (2015).
Court membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate Justices
Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XIV

The lead cases on same-sex marriage in Kentucky are Bourke v. Beshear, and its companion case Love v. Beshear. In Bourke, a U.S. district court found that the Equal Protection Clause requires Kentucky to recognize valid same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions.[1] In Love, the same court found that this same clause renders Kentucky's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.[2] Both decisions were stayed and consolidated upon appeal to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments in both cases on August 6, 2014. On November 6, the Sixth Circuit upheld Kentucky's ban on same-sex marriage.[3]

On January 16, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court consolidated these cases with three others and agreed to review the case under the name Obergefell v. Hodges.[4] Oral arguments were heard on April 28, 2015, and the Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in June 2015.[5][6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference heyburn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Love was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference DeBoer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Miscellaneous Order (01/16/2015)" (PDF). supremecourt.gov. January 16, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  5. ^ Singh, Tejinder (April 28, 2015). ""Super-cuts" from same-sex marriage arguments". SCOTUSblog.
  6. ^ Gerstein, Josh (April 28, 2015). "The 8 most awkward moments in the Supreme Court's gay-marriage arguments". Politico.