The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear oral arguments in a case that will determine whether states have the right to ban gay marriage.
In what will be a heavily watched case, the justices will listen to lawyers argue their respective sides for two hours, and then the nation will have to wait weeks for a decision.
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| The court has accepted more than 100 briefs filed by advocates on both sides of the issue. |
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The court has accepted more than 100 briefs filed by advocates on both sides of the issue and will weigh them with the oral arguments. The court decision could come as early as June, and it will likely affect the way every state treats gay marriage.
The Supreme Court will examine the legality of cases in four states: Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, where same-sex marriage bans have been challenged in the courts.
The justices will consider whether states are constitutionally required to permit same-sex marriage and whether they are legally mandated to recognize gay marriages sanctioned in other states.
In the case of Michigan, justices will consider only the question of whether the state must recognize gay marriage.
In a brief filed by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, the state makes the case against overturning the existing law against gay marriage by arguing the current law is not discriminatory. Rather, Michigan argues, the law is aimed at reinforcing the traditional family unit, which it says is the optimal environment for raising children.
“It is impossible to deny the long history of unfair treatment against same-sex conduct,” Schuette argues in the brief. “But that is not what this case is about. The marriage institution developed not out of any attempt to harm gays and lesbians or their children, but to encourage individuals with the inherent capacity to bear children to enter a union that supports raising children, and to remain in that union.”
But the plaintiff in the case turns Schuett’s argument around.
Lawyers for April DeBoer, a lesbian mother fighting to overturn the gay marriage ban in Michigan, say there is no reason same-sex couples cannot be adequate parents.
“The ‘optimal environment’ rationale,” DeBoer’s lawyers argue in their brief, “fails for the reason that there is no rational basis for deeming same-sex parents sub-optimal. It is the quality of parenting, not the gender or orientation of the parent, that matters.”
The high court also will examine the matter of requiring states that outlaw same-sex marriages to recognize those that take place where the practice is legal.
James Obergefell, a gay man, and Brittani Henry, a lesbian, want Ohio to recognize their marriages, which took place in Maryland and New York, respectively.
Their lawyers argued in pre-hearing briefs that not recognizing legal marriages is unconstitutional and discriminatory.
They point to the Supreme Court 2013 decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), ruling unconstitutional the law that banned the federal government from recognizing gay marriage.
“Ohio’s recognition bans violate the Fourteenth Amendment for all the reasons this court struck down DOMA as unconstitutional,” the lawyers for Obergefell and Henry argue in the brief. “That case invalidated DOMA because DOMA was designed to treat unequally those same-sex spouses whom states, by their marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity.”
The April 28 arguments come as the Supreme Court and the nation seem to be moving in the direction of supporting gay marriage.
In addition to striking down DOMA, the court upheld a ruling overturning California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage.
While dozens of states have voted to ban gay marriage in the past decade, many have lifted those bans following court decisions.
In addition to the court cases, public opinion polls show that people are increasingly supportive of gay marriage. A May 2014 Gallup poll found support for gay marriage by a margin of 55 percent to 42 percent. An ABC/Washington Post poll conducted April 16-20 shows 61-percent support compared to opposition of 35 percent.
But more than a dozen states are holding out, supporting voters who want to reserve legal marriage for a man and woman.
Thirteen states prohibit gay marriage, including the four states where the law will be under consideration by the high court.
