Watch a replay of the live streamed statement from President Barack Obama Friday morning.

President Barack Obama says the Supreme Court’s ruling giving same-sex couples the right to marry nationwide represents a day when justice “arrives like a thunderbolt.” (Read the full opinion here.)

The president, in a Rose Garden statement, said the court ruling has “made our union a little more perfect.”

It was not until 2012 that Obama announced his own support for gay marriage. Now, he says, the court ruling will end the patchwork of laws on marriage across the country and the uncertainty that they create for same-sex couples.

Immediately after the ruling, Obama tweeted: “Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else. #LoveWins”

Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else. #LoveWins — President Obama (@POTUS44) June 26, 2015



Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the case the Supreme Court heard on gay marriage, reacts to the court’s 5-4 decision to allow same-sex marriage in all 50 states.