One Caveat About the Supreme Court Ruling on Marriage Equality

Anthony Kennedy

Robert Reich wrote an elegant assessment of the June 26 decision by the Supreme Court establishing that same-sex couples are entitled under the Constitution to equal marriage rights. In that post, Reich asserted, "Any of you still cynical about the capacity of this nation to embrace social justice should think again."

I felt moved to comment, offering one caveat. I wanted to share it here.

The conservative elements of our society that matter have, most crucially, a pro-corporate agenda. They will always work to further their interest in solidifying the accumulation of patrimonial capital among the small minority in the global investor class who hold most of it now. That's clearly reflected in the judicial agendas of Anthony Kennedy and John Roberts -- most obviously in the Citizens United and follow-up rulings. The Roberts Court has continually given ground on conservative positions against things like same-sex marriage -- but that isn't the contradiction that it seems to many people. LGBT rights are not in conflict with the corporate agenda. Strict corporate conservatives can easily afford to be neutral on gay issues, which are irrelevant to their real intentions. They might even see it as a helpful opportunity to look magnanimous on gender issues. (I imagine lots of doctrinaire free market capitalists and libertarians are gay.)

Maybe the best thing about the June 26 ruling is that now Progressive thinkers have one less distraction from the real conflict in our still very unjust society.