Parties scramble to come to terms with opinion shift on same-sex marriage

By Dan Balz, WashPost, Published: March 26

If justices on the Supreme Court sounded cautious and tentative as they addressed the issue of same-sex marriage Tuesday, it’s little wonder. Like everyone else in public life, they are operating in the middle of a political whirlwind.

The political and legal systems are caught between past and future. Public opinion has shifted rapidly, and a majority of Americans now back legalizing same-sex marriage. Among those younger than 40, support is overwhelming. The question is when and in what form the future arrives.

There is little doubt that every Democrat who seeks the White House in 2016 will support same-sex marriage — a reality that wasn’t so obvious 18 months ago. The question for Republicans is whether any of their 2016 candidates will take a similar position.

There is no better reminder of how rapidly things have changed than to recall that President Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage just in May — and only after Vice President Biden got there first. Obama seemed as hesitant to change his position — it took him several years — as some of the justices sounded Tuesday about making sweeping rulings about the constitutionality of such unions.

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