Supreme Court Will Hear Gay Marriage Case, Decision Expected In June

The Supreme Court will review a ruling that upheld gay marriage bans in four states — Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee — and a decision is expected by late June.

The Friday announcement sets the stage for what could be a historic ruling if the justices decide same-sex couples have a right to marry everywhere in America under the Constitution. Whether an opponent or proponent, the ruling would mark a massive expansion of federal power over state sovereignty and voters’ approved legislation.

The cases will be argued in April, and proponents of gay marriage said they expect the court to settle the matter indefinitely and invalidate voter-approved and legislature passed state provisions that define marriage as between a man and a woman.

“We are now that much closer to being fully recognized as a family, and we are thrilled,” said April DeBoer, a hospital nurse from Hazel Park, Michigan, after the justices said they would hear an appeal from DeBoer and partner Jayne Rowse. “This opportunity for our case to be heard by the Supreme Court gives us and families like ours so much reason to be hopeful.”

Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama administration would urge the court “to make marriage equality a reality for all Americans.”

Proponents of traditional marriage want the court to let the political process play out, preserve state sovereignty and respect the will of the voters, rather than override them with their own will.

“The people of every state should remain free to affirm marriage as the union of a man and a woman in their laws,” said Austin R. Nimocks, senior counsel for the traditional marriage group Alliance Defending Freedom.

Due to federal justices overturning voter- and state government-approved bans, same-sex couples can now marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia, which is nearly double what it was just three months ago, when federal justices, who initially declined to hear gay marriage appeals, reversed the trend beginning with five states. Currently, there are only 14 states where same-sex couples cannot get married.

The court’s decision marks only the fourth time in 27 years they will weigh in on cultural and societal norms. In 1986, a 5-4 ruling on Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186, which was the first of those cases, upheld Georgia’s anti-sodomy law in a devastating defeat for gay rights advocates. The majority opinion, written by Justice Byron White, argued that the Constitution did not confer “a fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy.”

However, the following three rulings, all written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, a supposed 10th Amendment (states’ rights) champion, were devastating defeats to proponents of traditional marriage. In its most recent case on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 2013, the court struck down part of a federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Ever since that decision was handed down, federal justices have cited the precedent in their rulings overturning gay marriage bans.

The court is extending the time it usually allots for argument from an hour to two-and-a-half hours, and will consider two related questions.

The first is whether the Constitution requires states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and, the second, is whether states are required to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

The federal appeals court responsible for the four states in question upheld their gay marriage bans in November, reversing the rulings of lower court federal judges in all four states. But that was the first ruling by an appellate court that upheld gay marriage since the 2013 decision. Judge Martin Feldman also upheld Louisiana’s gay marriage ban, ruling that representative in the state have the right to ban same-sex couples from marrying.

“The court is persuaded that a meaning of what is marriage that has endured in history for thousands of years,” Judge Feldman wrote, adding it “prevails in a majority of states today, and is not universally irrational on the constitutional grid.”

In Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota and Texas, judges have also struck down gay marriage bans, which remain in effect pending appeals. In Missouri, same-sex couples can marry in St. Louis and Kansas City only.

There have been no rulings on lawsuits in Alabama, Georgia, Nebraska and North Dakota.