The Supreme Court Friday, 1/16/15, announced that they would take up the appeal of the 6th court's ruling reinstating the states marriage amendments in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Here are the two questions the court will ask:
The cases are consolidated and the petitions for writs of
certiorari are granted limited to the following questions:
1) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex?
2) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out–of–state?
A total of ninety minutes is allotted for oral argument on Question 1.
A total of one hour is allotted for oral argument on Question 2.
The parties are limited to filing briefs on the merits and presenting oral argument on the questions presented in their respective petitions.
The briefs of petitioners are to be filed on or before 2 p.m., Friday, February 27, 2015.
The briefs of respondents are to be filed on or before 2 p.m., Friday, March 27, 2015.
The reply briefs are to be filed on or before 2 p.m., Friday, April 17, 2015.
ref
*formatted for readabilityExpect oral arguments to be in late April and a decision issued in end of June.
Baker v. Nelson
I get the impression from how the questions are worded that the court is looking to redefine marriage across the country. The thought is that the court will finally decide once and for all on the matter of same sex marriage. I doubt it. It has not done so in recent rulings and if it does decide the matter definitively it will still be a matter of much debate for many years to come.
My hope is that the U.S. Supreme Court will go into detail on why it rules the way it will using constitutional basis and previous rulings as its basis of reasoning. Either way, this will be an interesting matter of speculation during the coming months.