Obergefell v. Hodges - Under Threat? Could affect immigration?

[zilchfox 296]

I hope this is the right section.

 

On June 26th, 2015, Obergefell v. Hodges is a landmark civil rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Today, various news outlets are sharing opinions from Justices Thomas and Alito during the Kim Davis case (being denied by the Supreme Court) that they should revisit the Oberge v. Hodges case, and given how many justices have shifted around since that ruling, the court is currently stacked conservative 6 to 3 (including potentially Amy Barrett very soon), which gives the case a chance to be overturned. I have no idea if I'm interpreting this correctly, but I'm kinda freaking out lmao

 

I bring this up because under this very case is actually the reason I was able to marry, move, and live in the U.S. to begin with in late 2016 to my husband, as prior to this, there was no immigration path to the U.S., and we were originally planning on having my husband move up to Canada when we got engaged in 2014, but seeing as we now had options between both countries, we ultimately decided that it was best for our future for me to go to the U.S. instead. I know I am absolutely not alone on this forum where this case allowed those in same-sex marriages to pursue immigrating to the United States.

 

Let's say the court does decide to revisit this case, and overturn the original ruling, making it once again illegal on the federal level. How would that affect existing pending cases? (i.e. I currently have both a pending I-751 and N-400). How would it affect benefits that we've gained in the past, such as filing joint taxes? Would we even still be married, since we completed our marriage on a K-1 visa within the US? Would the worst-case scenario of all pending cases relating to same-sex just suddenly be auto-denied, and deportations issued to those that had their cases denied? Let's discuss.

Edited October 5, 2020 by zilchfox

[TBoneTX 43,387]

Thread is moved from Off Topic to General Immigration Discussion.

[phoeniks26 5]

Caveat - Not a lawyer, but have followed the Obergefell and Windsor cases as they made their way up to SCOTUS. Also, my fiance and I would be effected should this happen.

From my understanding, the Obergefell decision said that there is a constitutional right to marry someone of the same sex, regardless of what your state says. If it were to be overturned, it would mean that states could now ban same sex marriage again (and we all know which ones would do this). This likely would not have an effect on federal recognition of same sex marriage because of the Windsor decision which invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act and basically ruled "If people married in a state that recognizes same sex marriage, the federal government has to recognize it." So I guess in a post-Obergefell-is-overruled world, if you got married in a state that recognizes same sex marriage, you're fine. While I can see an argument made that the Federal Government would deny K-1 visas for petitioners living in banned states, there's a counter argument of "just because the petitioner lives in West Virginia/Alabama/Kentuky/Utah there's literally nothing stopping the couple from getting married in California/New York/Delaware/Massachusetts." 

All that being said, if Obergefell does manage to get overruled, I have informed my fiance/future husband that I will be forcing him to sponsor me for a Canadian PR and that I would be willing to live in Yellowknife in January if I had to.