Educational Resource
Backgrounder on Supreme Court Marriage Cases (2015)
Backgrounder on Supreme Court Marriage Cases (2015)
Why is the Supreme Court presently considering marriage cases?
- After the Court’s 2013 decision in U.S. v. Windsor striking down the federal definition of marriage in the Defense of Marriage Act, many state marriage laws were challenged in federal courts. Mostly as a consequence of judicial action – federal and state – marriage has effectively been redefined in 37 states and the District of Columbia. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, however, upheld the marriage laws in the four states in that court’s jurisdiction – Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In January, the Supreme Court granted petitions to review the Sixth Circuit decision.
What are the marriage cases before the Supreme Court?
- The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit encompassed four marriage cases – one from each of the states in the circuit. The Supreme Court consolidated those cases under the caption Obergefell v. Hodges.