June 26, 2015 12:40 PM

Texas Republican leaders react angrily to same-sex marriage ruling while counties take varied approaches to implementation

Abbott attacks the court itself: “The Supreme Court has abandoned its role as an impartial judicial arbiter and has become an unelected nine-member legislature.”

On the 12^th anniversary of the Lawrence v. Texas decision striking down state laws against sodomy, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday morning that marriage is a right and that extending it only to heterosexual couples violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14^th Amendment of the United States Constitution. The ruling was immediately met with predictable partisan division while many county officials across Texas started to figure out how they will proceed.

The decision came down 5-4 with the four dissenting justices – Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Scalia – each writing their own dissents.

Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority, said same-sex marriage is a fundamental right based on “four principles and traditions,” those being able to choose one’s spouse is an inherent part of individual liberty; a two-person union is unlike any other; marriage protects children and families; and that it’s the cornerstone of the social order. It is worth noting that three of those four tenets were components of the state’s defense of its ban on gay marriage.

One popular argument, however, got no traction: biology. Because no state has made procreation or the ability to procreate a requirement to get married, Kennedy wrote, the court rejected the biological argument for restricting marriage to heterosexual couples.

By Emily DePrang