自伐其本，愚不可及——评美国同婚平权案

sitan

肯尼迪大法官的多数派意见援引的是第十四修正案以及民权法案。其中最为关键的是第十四修正案第一款：
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

肯尼迪特别点名了liberty，假如marriage is a liberty right，那么对于该liberty的保护，当然应该平等地加于所有公民，包括同种族婚姻，跨种族婚姻，包括异性恋，同性恋以及其他人群。事实上当年最高法裁定各州不得妨害跨种族婚姻，使用的逻辑十分类似，在Loving v. Virginia案中，"Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discriminations. "
至于marriage是不是一个liberty, 肯尼迪大法官自有说法，最关键的是说liberty的概念是与时俱进的progressive，很显然，民权法案以及第十四修正案通过时那一代人对于liberty的认识和现在是不同的。当代人必须当仁不让，定义当代的liberty范畴。这确实是危险的一步，但是也许你也可以说这本来就是赋予最高法院的权利。