Richard John Baker v. Gerald R. Nelson, 291
Minn. 310, 191 N.W.2d 185 (1971) is a case in which the
Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a state law limiting marriage to persons of the opposite sex did not violate the
U.S. Constitution. Baker appealed, and on October 10, 1972, the
United States Supreme Court dismissed the appeal "for want of a substantial federal question." Because the case came to the U.S. Supreme Court through mandatory appellate review (not
certiorari), the dismissal constituted a decision on the merits and established
Baker v. Nelson as
precedent, though the extent of its precedential effect had been subject to debate. On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court explicitly overruled
Baker in
Obergefell v. Hodges making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.