Supreme Court to take up same-sex marriage
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- Justices will hear two constitutional challenges to state and federal laws
- Federal Defense of Marriage Act; California's Proposition 8 will be reviewed
- NEW: Justices first will address questions of legal standing in both appeals
- The matter before the justices is one of the most important in court's history
Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court will tackle the contentious issue of same-sex marriage and hear two constitutional challenges to state and federal laws dealing with the recognition of gay and lesbian couples to legally wed.
In a one-page order on Friday, the court took on what will be one of the most important issues in its history. The decision to review the matter came just weeks after voters approved same-sex marriage in three states.
Oral arguments will likely be held in March with a ruling by late June.
The appeals to be heard involve the federal Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA, which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples legally married in their own state, and a challenge to California's Proposition 8, a voter-approved referendum that took away the right of same sex-marriage that previously had been approved by the state's courts.
Same-sex married couple sues federal government in DOMA case
The political, social, and legal stakes of this long-simmering debate will once again put the high court at the center of national attention, a contentious encore to its summer ruling upholding the massive health care reform law championed by President Barack Obama.
There are about approximately 120,000 legally married same-sex couples in the United States.
Earlier this month, voters in Maryland, Washington, and Maine approved same-sex marriage, adding to the six states and the District of Columbia that already had done so. Minnesota voters also rejected an effort to ban such unions through a constitutional amendment.
Timeline: Same-sex marriage
Many other states, including New Jersey, Illinois, Delaware, Rhode Island and Hawaii, have legalized domestic partnerships and civil unions for such couples -- a step designed in most cases to provide the same rights of marriage under state law.
But other states have passed laws or state constitutional amendments banning such marriages. California's Prop 8 is the only such referendum that revoked the right after lawmakers and the state courts previously allowed it.
Traditionally, the federal DOMA law would be defended by the Justice Department. But that responsibility would now fall to House Republicans after President Barack Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage earlier this year.
In their order on Friday, the justices specifically asked both sides to argue a supplemental question: Whether congressional Republicans -- operating as a bipartisan legal advisory group -- have "standing," or legal authority, to make the case.
The justices also asked both sides to argue a second standing question. California's governor and state attorney general have refused to defend Proposition 8 in court, leaving it to a private of coalition of groups supporting the law to file the appeals.
The high court could decide the standing question alone and dismiss the appeal without addressing the larger constitutional questions. That would mean for now, same-sex marriages could resume next year in California.
Those on both sides of the issue welcomed the high court's intervention.
"That the issue will soon be heard by the Supreme Court is a vindication of our work to achieve equal protection under the law for same-sex couples," said Mary Bonauto, director of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, who has been litigating the issue for decades. "This day has been long in the making, and we are committed to the success of this case."
But a group that helped lead the effort to pass Proposition 8 in California said it was confident of prevailing.
"We believe it is a strong signal that the court will reverse the lower courts and uphold Proposition 8," said John Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage. "That is the right outcome based on the law and based on the principle that voters hold the ultimate power over basic policy judgments and their decisions are entitled to respect."
The cases accepted Friday are Hollingsworth v. Perry (12-144), dealing with Proposition 8; and U.S. v. Windsor (12-307) on the DOMA issue.
Edith Windsor, the woman behind the Supreme Court case
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