Western Michigan University Political Science Professor Mark Hurwitz says the U.S. Supreme Court is not supposed to be a political institution, but he says the justices know how their rulings fit with public opinion.
Hurwitz says it's rare for the Supreme Court to get ahead of public opinion. He says in this case it's unlikely that the court would have struck down same-sex marriage bans in Michigan and other states before a major shift in public opinion on the issue gay marriage.
The opinion was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is normally a reliably conservative vote. Hurwitz says Kennedy is on the winning side of cases more than any other current justice on the Supreme Court. Ever since Sandra Day O'Connor retired from the court in 2005, Hurwitz says Kennedy has been the "swing vote" on the Supreme Court.
Hurwitz says the Supreme Court has settled the issue of same-sex marriage, and it's unlikely that will be reversed in the future. But he says there will be court battles over tangential issues. Those include religious objections by catering and other businesses that don't want to provide services for a same-sex couple's wedding.
