Anthony Kennedy

Surrounded by family and his soon-to-be Supreme Court colleagues, Neil Gorsuch took the first of two oaths on April 10 as he prepared to take his seat on the court and restore its conservative majority.

The Supreme Court ruled on June 26 that the U.S. Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry in a historic triumph for the American gay rights movement.

The court ruled 5-4 that the Constitution's guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law mean that states cannot ban same-sex marriages. With the ruling, gay marriage will become legal in all 50 states.