The Supreme Court agreed Friday to resolve the national debate over same-sex marriage once and for all. The justices will consider four cases from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, consolidated and heard together. They will hear 2 1/2 hours of oral arguments in April and issue a ruling before the current term ends in late June.
The new challenges to gay marriage bans are destined to become even more of a landmark than those decided by the court in 2013 — United States v. Windsor, which forced the federal government to recognize gay marriages, and Hollingsworth v. Perry, which made California the 13th state to allow them.
Those rulings, while historic, did not resolve the threshold questions in the debate: whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry, or whether states have the right to ban the practice.
The justices' hands were forced by a split among federal appellate courts, created when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld four states' marriage bans in November. While gays and lesbians can marry in 36 states, most recently including Florida, the practice is banned in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, along with 10 other states.
Via USA Today
Photo Credit - J. Scott Applewhite, AP
No comments:
Post a Comment
Click Post a Comment to share your thoughts, I'll love to hear from you. Thanks!
*Comments on old posts are moderated and may take sometime to be shown. That's just because I want to see them and respond to you if necessary.