clipped from: www.beyondhomophobia.com   

While many of the briefs may have influenced the justices’ thinking in a variety of ways, three of them were specifically referenced by the Court.

Two of those briefs were filed by opponents of marriage equality.

  • The Court briefly noted an argument raised by the Pacific Justice Institute, which it opted not to consider (Note 9, p. 21).
    • The Court responded to a passage in the brief filed by Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law & Justice, which cited the philosopher John Rawls to argue that recognizing a constitutional right to marry for same-sex couples will devalue the institution and will have detrimental effects on children.
    A statute that limits marriage to a union of persons of opposite sexes, thereby placing marriage outside the reach of couples of the same sex, unquestionably imposes different treatment on the basis of sexual orientation (pp. 94-95).