Liberty and Equality Before the Law.

"They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right." —Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015. Kennedy used a legal framework that emerged from an extensive study of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. How did Kennedy arrive at his decision?

The answer begins with a look back to the end of the American Civil War in 1865.