Historic Month for U.S.

By: Mark Javier

 

June 2015 was a monumentally historic month for the United States. Within a short period of time last month, we witnessed the horrific consequence of this nation’s unresolved racial animosity and hatred, the legal survival of comprehensive healthcare reform, and the joyous validation of every person’s right to marry the person they love. Surely, the events of last month will resonate throughout the rest of time, but what does it mean for us today?

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in King v. Burwell that the Affordable Care Act allows subsidies for low-income people who purchase health insurance through federal exchanges. At issue was a provision of the law allowing subsidies for people participating in exchanges “established by the state.” Challengers had argued the law invalidates subsidies in the nearly two dozen states that use federal, rather than state-run, insurance exchanges.

Roberts said the provision should be read in context of the entire law. “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,” Roberts wrote.

Reading the law to bar subsidies in states using federal exchanges would likely create “death spirals” in the individual insurance market that the law was designed to avoid, Roberts said. “It is implausible that Congress meant the act to operate in this manner,” he said.

Therefore, low-income citizens may be eligible for health insurance subsidies in all fifty states even if the exchange used in their home state is federally run. If the Court had ruled for the other side, approximately six million people would have been in danger of losing their health insurance.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled states cannot prevent same-sex couples from marrying. The 5-4 majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, says states must license and recognize same-sex marriages based on the 14th Amendment’s Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.

The Illinois Legislature approved a gay marriage law in late 2013, making Illinois the 16th state to allow same-sex unions. For Illinois residents, the most immediate impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing gay marriage nationwide is that same-sex couples can travel out of state knowing their marriages will be recognized elsewhere. The ruling means 14 other states will have to stop enforcing bans on same-sex marriage, essentially approving it in all 50 states.

The ruling closes the door on any possibility — however remote in Illinois — that the Legislature could one day reverse the law if political winds were to shift.

Prior to the Court’s ruling, Illinois couples could still have run into trouble in the 14 remaining states that had bans on gay marriage. If relocating, a spouse could be denied employer provided health and other benefits, for example. And one spouse’s parental rights could be questioned.

One of two parts of the Supreme Court’s decision specifically dealt with the cross-border issue, finding that same-sex marriages legal in one state must be recognized by all states.

The other part declared that gay marriage bans in four states —Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee — were unconstitutional, effectively making samesex marriage legal throughout the country. A ruling upholding those bans could have sown confusion in those states that had bans struck down by federal courts and might have sought to reinstate them.

Justice Kennedy wrote these beautiful words in his opinion:“ No union is as profound as marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”

While the court ruling sends a powerful message about equality, gay rights advocates say there are still fights left to fight. Illinois has specific protections against discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations. But not all states do.

Not everyone is embracing the decision. There are opposition groups that aim to discriminate against the LGBT community using the argument of religious freedom to deny them services, goods, housing and other important rights.

Although these two cases were very generous to the liberal agenda, not every recent Supreme Court decision found favor with the left. However, affordable healthcare and equality for the LGBT community rank at the top of the list when it comes to impactful decisions and historic issues