From the New York Times:
And now there are four. In the space of a week, the number of states allowing same-sex marriage has doubled, with Iowa and then Vermont joining Massachusetts and Connecticut. In California, gay and lesbian couples were exchanging vows for five months before voters put a stop to the practice in November. Californians are still talking it over, though, and loudly. New York and New Jersey may be next to debate the question.
... Court decisions on issues like school desegregation, abortion and same-sex marriage can raise questions about the judicial branch usurping the democratic process. But there are strategic issues as well. The Supreme Court not only decides cases but also decides which cases to decide. In jurisprudence as in life, timing is everything.
Even some strong supporters of abortion rights believe, for instance, that Roe went too far too fast and may have been counterproductive. One of them is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“The court bit off more than it could chew,” Justice Ginsburg said in remarks after a speech at Princeton in October. It would have been enough, she said, to strike down the extremely restrictive Texas law at issue in Roe and leave further questions for later cases.
“The legislatures all over the United States were moving on this question,” she added. “The law was in a state of flux.”
...The pattern on same-sex marriage, Professor Egan said, is that “Republicans react very opposed and Democrats react very, very neutrally.” As a consequence, he said, “opposition to same-sex marriage shoots up a bit in the month or two or three after a big court decision.”
Later, though, unless the decision is overturned, the public lives with the consequences and decides for itself. “Over time,” Professor Egan said, “people’s experience with the policy changes their attitudes.”
... “There has been a shift of about 10 percentage points in five years” in public support for same-sex marriage, Professor Persily added. “On a deep moral issue like this, that’s very rare.” Public opinion about abortion, by contrast, “has been largely frozen for years.”
The trend toward greater support for same-sex marriage is likely to continue, Professor Egan said. Part of it is generational: younger people are far more apt to support gay rights than older people. And part of it is a product of changing social attitudes.
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