article_snippet.sent: All eyes were on Justice Anthony Kennedy, considered a key vote for challengers to the state bans, who has penned three decisions in favor of gay rights over the years.
article_snippet.sent: Justice Anthony Kennedy joined other conservatives concerned with the fact that  marriage has been defined between a man and a woman for a long time.
article_snippet.sent: This definition has been with us for millennia," Justice Anthony Kennedy said.
article_snippet.sent: But later Justice Anthony Kennedy pressed John Bursch, a lawyer defending the bans: "Same sex couples say: 'Of course, we understand the nobility and the sacredness of the marriage.
article_snippet.sent: Justice Anthony Kennedy also said that Bursch's assertion "that only opposite-sex couples can have a bonding with the child" was "just a wrong premise.
article_snippet.sent: When Bursch said the rate of out-of-wedlock birth has gone up in the country, Justice Anthony Kennedy noted that if Bursch were to prevail, Bursch might be difficult for same-sex couples to "adopt some of these children."
article_snippet.sent: Justice Anthony Kennedy also brought up the fact that marriage "bestows dignity."
article_snippet.sent: These parties say These parties want to have that same ennoblement," Justice Anthony Kennedy said.
highlights_snippet.sent: Eyes on Justice Anthony Kennedy, a key vote for challengers to the state bans, who has penned decisions in favor of gay rights .