Some really bad news for married same-sex couples:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a Texas ruling that said the right to a marriage license did not entitle same-sex couples to spousal benefits under employee insurance plans. The city of Houston had asked the high court to overturn last June’s Texas Supreme Court decision, which determined that all marriage-related matters were not decided when the U.S. Supreme Court established a right to same-sex unions in 2015, leaving room for state courts to explore the limits of gay marriage. The federal court’s decision, issued without comment, allowed the Texas ruling to stand.
Conservatives have argued that Obergefell, the 2015 SCOTUS decision that found same-sex couples had a constitutional right to wed, entitled same-sex couples to a marriage license — a piece of paper — and nothing more. It did not entitle same-sex couples to “equal access to the constellation of benefits that the state has linked to marriage,” as the city of Houston argued in its appeal of the ruling.
This wouldn’t have happened if Merrick Garland was on the court and/or Hillary Clinton was in the White House.