Subject: The Answer
Author:
Posted on: 2015-06-26 19:25:00 UTC
There are only two ways that it could be overturned at this point. The Court could indeed overrule itself, but that is unlikely to happen, even with a change in the Court. The Court, though they often claim otherwise, still follows public opinion and the overwhelming majority of Americans support this result. And one of things that I noticed, close to about 1/2 of Conservatives also support this result. In other words, popular opinion will prevent future Courts from changing its decision.
Now without having read the decision yet, there is one other guaranteed way that it could be overturned. And it is as Calista rightly stated, a Constitutional Amendment. And they are very difficult to get passed. And an Amendment that would prevent same-sex marriage would never have the popular support to survive.
However, if the Court did not actually say that the Constitution required the recognition of the right, then Congress could legislate it, but from what I have read it was a Constitutional Decision, and the Court is the final say on the Constitution. And the only way to change that is either the Court overruling a previous decision, see Brown v. Board of Ed. (holding that Plessy v. Ferguson's Separate, But Equal Doctrine was Unconstitutional) or it would need to superseded by Constitutional Amendment, see Chisholm v. Georgia (holding States did not have Sovereign Immunity), which was immediately superseded by the 11th Amendment.
And for clarification, when it comes to Constitutional Issues, the Supreme Court actually does have the last word, see Marbury v. Madison ("It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret that
rule. If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each." Or perhaps more simply Marbury establishes Judicial Review) Which for those that do no know what Judicial Review is, it is one of the most important duties of the Supreme Court of the United States. It means that they have the right to declare a law Unconstitutional, which if that is done then the law must be stricken and is unenforceable. The only way that this can be changed is either through Amendment or a subsequent Judicial Opinion overruling the previous one. Both are very rare.
Brown was basically the exception. If any if any length of time passes it becomes very hard for the Court to overrule itself, because lower courts rely on the decisions, and especially something like this, where not only lower courts, but State Governments will have relied upon it. The reason Brown came out the way it did, was frankly, that's how the wind was blowing. And that's the same thing here. This decision will not be overruled.
So the only way for the decision to no longer stand, again assuming it is based on Constitutional Grounds (which I am certain it is, seeing as several of the laws that were invalidated were State Constitutions, generally the only way a provision in a State Constitution can be invalidated is if the Court finds a Fundamental Constitutional Right (under the Federal Constitution)), then the only way to supersede it is to pass an Amendment. But, in order to do that you need popular support and it will not exist for an Amendment that allows States to ban same-sex marriage. Though I suspect someone will probably have already introduced such an Amendment, it will never pass.
The TL;DR version: It is possible, but so unlikely that for all intents and purposes, this decision cannot be overruled.
