Justice Scalia: SCOTUS decision on gay marriage demonstrates 'this court's threat to American democracy'

Justice Antonin Scalia
(Image credit: Paul Morigi/Getty Images)

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled 5-4 that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, and that not one of the 50 states can ban same-sex couples from marrying.

Justice Antonin Scalia, who penned an eviscerating dissent of the court's Thursday decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, again let his dissatisfaction with the majority opinion fly on Friday, warning that the decision shows "this court's threat to American democracy."

The Supreme Court, he notes, is "hardly a cross-section of America." Only nine men and women hear arguments, and only one of that number hails from a state not along the East or West Coast. And, he notes, the court doesn't have a single, "genuine Westerner," because "California does not count." Nor, Scalia adds, does the court feature an evangelical Christian, "or even a Protestant of any denomination."

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Thus, Scalia concludes, such a body cannot be expected to represent a vast number of Americans, as the court is "a select, patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine."

"We move one step closer," the justice concluded, "to being reminded of our impotence."

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Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.