In light of the recent rulings of the SCOTUS legalizing gay marriage in the U.S., I've been seeing a bunch of posts talking about how the recent ruling was passed under the 14th amendment. The assertions go on to say that since the 14th amendment was never ratified, this recent ruling was never ratified, and is not actually legal.
I was hoping this sub can tell me if this is valid or not. Since the mods have a strict rule on sources, I figured this was a great place to ask. Thank you!
The 14th Amendment was ratified on July 20 1868 (via proclaimation by Secretary of State Seward).
The order of ratification by the states were:
Connecticut, June 30, 1866
New Hampshire, July 6, 1866
Tennessee, July 18, 1866
New Jersey, September 11, 1866 (subsequently, on February 20, 1868, the legislature rescinded its ratification, and on March 24, 1868, readopted its resolution of rescission over the Governor's veto, and on April 23, 2003, revoked the resolution of rescission)
Oregon, September 19, 1866 (subsequently rescinded its ratification on October 16, 1868, and ratified on April 25, 1973)
New York, January 10, 1867
Ohio, January 11, 1867 (subsequently rescinded its ratification on January 13, 1868, and ratified on March 12, 2003)
Illinois, January 15, 1867
West Virginia, January 16, 1867
Michigan, January 16, 1867
Minnesota, January 16, 1867
Kansas, January 17, 1867
Maine, January 19, 1867
Nevada, January 22, 1867
Indiana, January 23, 1867
Missouri, January 25, 1867
Pennsylvania, February 6, 1867
Rhode Island, February 7, 1867
Wisconsin, February 13, 1867
Massachusetts, March 20, 1867
Nebraska, June 15, 1867
Iowa, March 16, 1868
Arkansas, April 6, 1868
Florida, June 9, 1868
North Carolina, July 4, 1868 (after having rejected the amendment December 14, 1866)
Louisiana, July 9, 1868 (after having rejected the amendment February 6, 1867)
South Carolina, July 9, 1868 (after having rejected the amendment December 20, 1866).
Ratification was completed on July 9, 1868. The amendment was subsequently ratified by:
Alabama, July 13, 1868
Georgia, July 21, 1868 (after having rejected it on November 9, 1866)
Virginia, October 8, 1869 (after having rejected it on January 9, 1867)
Mississippi, January 17, 1870
Texas, February 18, 1870 (after having rejected it on October 27, 1866)
Delaware, February 12, 1901 (after having rejected it on February 8, 1867)
Maryland, April 4, 1959 (after having rejected it on March 23, 1867)
California, May 6, 1959
Kentucky, March 30, 1976 (after having rejected it on January 10, 1867).
The Library of Congress has a number of sources on the amendment and it's passage and effects.