Justice Alito: Why Not Let 4 Lawyers Marry One Another?

In the oral arguments presented yesterday in the Supreme Court on the question of whether the U.S. Constitution guarantees two people of the same sex the right to marry one another, Justice Samuel Alito asked whether—if two of the same sex have a right to marry—why not four people of opposite sexes.

“Would there be any ground for denying them a license?” Alito asked.

“Let's say they're all consenting adults, highly educated. They're all lawyers,” he said.

Alito posed the question to Mary L. Bonauto, a lawyer who was presenting the court with arguments on behalf of clients seeking to establish a right to same-sex marriage.

Bonauto expressed the view that states cannot prohibit two people of the same-sex from marrying but can prohibit four people of different sexes from marrying.

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