General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Gay people can have multipartner relationships too. [View all]prayin4rain
(2,065 posts)had a chance to read Turley's article in its entirety. He is saying that in his opinion, the Court should have relied almost exclusively on civil rights legislation plus 14th amendment equal protection clause. That's where this "protected class" talk comes from -civil rights legislation. I think it's hard for you to read the opinion and reconcile it with what Turley is saying because Turley is not explaining the opinion. He's explaining, in his opinion, the route the Court should have taken. (Civil rights legislation) plus (14th amendment equal protection clause)
Turley also is criticizing Kennedys flowery way of not directly giving clear guiding legal principles, which I agree is annoying.
Turley is also criticizing what he thinks is an expansion of substantive due process. To show how annoyed he is, he exaggerates to say that the court expanded substantive due process to include dignity. Which, I assume, while doing that he is being silly to prove a point about how annoyed he is by the route the Court took.
The court relied on an equal right to substantive due process concept ("equal liberty" , and leaves civil rights legislation (including protected class ideas) out of the mix.
This law professor explains the decision better than I could and I agree with him: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/06/gay_marriage_supreme_court_ruling_how_skinner_v_oklahoma_laid_the_foundation.html
"...the Supreme Court relied on the 14th Amendments Due Process Clause, which protects liberty, and its Equal Protection Clause, which outlaws state discrimination"