DOMA Decision: Key Quotes From Scalia's Dissent

Following Wednesday morning's announcement that the Supreme Court has struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, Justice Antonin Scalia read his lengthy dissent from the bench, expressing his disagreement with the majority opinion.

Here are some key quotes that summarize Scalia's dissent:

"The Court is eager—hungry—to tell everyone its view of the legal question at the heart of this case. Standing in the way is an obstacle..."

The Court has "power to decide not abstract questions but real, concrete 'Cases' and 'Controversies.' Yet the plaintiff and the Government agree entirely on what should happen in this lawsuit. They agree that the court below got it right; and they agreed in the court below that the court below that one got it right as well."

"What, then, are we doing here?"

Essentially, Scalia believes that because President Obama's lawyers refused to defend the constitutionaliy of the Defense of Marriage Act, there is no "conflict" or "controversy" on which the Supreme Court can base its ruling.

According to Scalia, the Court's opinion both in explaining its jurisdiction and its decision "both spring from the same diseased root: an exalted notion of the role of this court in American democratic society."

Justice Scalia was joined in full by Justice Thomas and in part by Chief Justice Roberts.

You can read the full dissent here.