United States

Same-sex marriage and Obamacare Supreme Court rulings and final agreement on the Iran nuclear deal

At the end of June the Supreme Court ruled on a pair of landmark cases. In Obergefell v. Hodges" class="md-crosslink">Obergefell v. Hodges, it found state bans on same-sex marriage and on recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions to be unconstitutional under the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. That ruling thereby legalized the practice of same-sex marriage throughout the country.

White HousePeople gathering in Lafayette Park to see the White House illuminated with rainbow colours in commemoration of the Supreme Court's ruling that effectively legalized same-sex marriage, June 2015.Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Images

In King v. Burwell, the court upheld the portion of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that allowed the government to provide subsidies to poor and middle-class citizens in order to help them purchase health care, thus further solidifying the legality of Obamacare.

On July 14, after some two years of continuing negotiations, the P5+1 and Iran reached a final agreement on limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the reduction of sanctions against the country. The terms of the final agreement largely followed a framework agreement that had been accepted by both sides in April. Over a 10-year period, Iran would greatly reduce its nuclear stockpile and give inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency access to its nuclear facilities in exchange for the gradual removal of sanctions. By September the deal had won enough support in the Senate to ensure that a potential congressional resolution disapproving the deal would not have enough votes to overcome a presidential veto.

European Union; P5+1; Iranian officialsEuropean Union, P5+1, and Iranian officials in Geneva, July 2015.U.S Department of State