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24 

OBERGEFELL v. HODGES 

Opinion of the Court 

for resolution as a matter of constitutional law. 

Of  course,  the  Constitution  contemplates  that  democ-
racy is the appropriate process for change, so long as that 
process does not abridge fundamental rights.  Last Term, 
a plurality  of this Court reaffirmed the importance of the 
democratic  principle  in  Schuette  v.  BAMN,  572  U. S.  ___ 
(2014),  noting  the  “right  of  citizens  to  debate  so  they  can
learn  and  decide  and  then,  through  the  political  process,
act  in  concert  to  try  to  shape  the  course  of  their  own 
times.”  Id., at ___ – ___ (slip op., at 15–16).  Indeed, it is 
most  often  through  democracy  that  liberty  is  preserved 
and  protected  in  our  lives.    But  as  Schuette  also  said, 
“[t]he freedom secured by the Constitution consists, in one
of  its  essential  dimensions,  of  the  right  of  the  individual
not to be injured by the unlawful exercise of governmental 
power.”  Id., at ___ (slip op., at 15).  Thus, when the rights
of persons are violated, “the Constitution requires redress 
by the courts,” notwithstanding the more general value of 
democratic  decisionmaking.  Id.,  at  ___  (slip  op.,  at  17).
This  holds  true  even  when  protecting  individual  rights
affects issues of the utmost importance and sensitivity. 

The  dynamic  of  our  constitutional  system  is  that  indi-
viduals need not await legislative action before asserting a 
fundamental  right.    The  Nation’s  courts  are  open  to  in-
jured individuals who come to them to vindicate their own
direct, personal stake in our basic charter.  An individual 
can invoke a right to constitutional protection when he or 
she  is  harmed,  even  if  the  broader  public  disagrees  and 
even  if  the  legislature  refuses  to  act.    The  idea  of  the 
Constitution  “was  to  withdraw  certain  subjects  from  the 
vicissitudes  of  political  controversy,  to  place  them  beyond
the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them
as legal principles to be applied by the courts.”  West Vir-
ginia  Bd.  of  Ed.  v.  Barnette,  319  U. S.  624,  638  (1943).
This is why “fundamental rights may not be submitted to 
a vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.”  Ibid.