WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court
may rule once and for all this year whether the constitutional guarantee of
equal protection under the law gives gay and lesbian Americans the right to
marry.
Meeting behind
closed doors on Friday, the nine justices decided to review a 2-1 decision by
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit that upheld bans on same-sex marriage in Ohio,
Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. The decision by two judges on the
Cincinnati-based court, both appointed by President George W. Bush, marked the
first time a federal appeals court backed a same-sex marriage ban after other
appellate courts had found similar bans unconstitutional. That split among the
circuit courts likely drove the justices to pick up the case. The Supreme Court will hear arguments and probably rule by
June.
