US Supreme Court to Hear Historic Gay Marriage Case April 28

A landmark hearing on whether states may ban same-sex marriage would take place on April 28, the United States Supreme Court said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United States Supreme Court said Thursday that a landmark hearing on whether states may ban same-sex marriage would take place on April 28.

The announcement comes after lower courts upheld bans to recognize same sex marriages in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

The Supreme Court will hold a 90-minute hearing on two questions on the matter.

The first will address whether the US constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment, which outlines citizenship and equal protection rights, requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex.

The second will be on whether the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to recognize a same-sex marriage licensed and performed out-of-state.

In 2013, the US Supreme Court ruled that a section of the country’s Defense of Marriage Act barring federal recognition of same-sex marriages was unconstitutional.

Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia, home to some 70 percent of the US population, currently allow same-sex marriages.