gay marriages were already legal in about half of states.my point was really that states should decide, not the federal gov or scotus. SCOTUS rightly should have declined to hear the case.
They couldn't decline. There were district appellate courts who came to opposite opinions on this issue. A definitive opinion was called for, and the Supreme Court blew it.
Thirty-one states had passed amendments to their state constitutions defining marriage as it had always been known, by popular referenda, by mostly very wide margins, which is where this should have ended. Other states had state laws which established the legal definition of marriage as that between a man and a woman. That's a strong consensus by the people, where the decision belongs.
The Supreme Court, after appellate courts, shat on ALL of that. That's reprehensible and anathema to constitutional principles.