Obergefell, Justice Kennedy, and First Amendment Rights of Those Who Disagree

 In Obergefell, Justice Kennedy reassured those who believe in traditional marriage that their beliefs would continue to be respected and protected:

   “Many who deem same-sex marriage to be wrong,” said Justice Kennedy, “reach that conclusion based on decent and honorable religious or philosophical premises, and neither they nor their beliefs are disparaged here....The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue the family structure they have long revered.” Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, 2602 (2015).

 I quote Obergefell regularly when working on free speech and free exercises issues such as those arising in Masterpiece Cakeshop and 303 Creative. When the law treats traditional beliefs about marriage and sexuality harshly, the Free Speech Clause and the Free Exercise Clause are powerful defensive protections (and these clauses are explicitly protected in the Written Constitution).