In a 5–4 opinion by Justice Kennedy, the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license and recognize marriages between two people of the same sex. Marriage, Kennedy wrote, is a 'keystone of our social order' central to individual dignity and autonomy, and its exclusion inflicts constitutional injury on same-sex couples and their children. Obergefell instantly legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, capping a two-decade legal and social transformation. Its reliance on both due process and equal protection, and its evocative language about dignity, made it both a landmark and a target: Justice Thomas's Dobbs concurrence urged its reconsideration, and Congress responded with the Respect for Marriage Act (2022) to protect the decision statutorily.