Supreme Court to discuss gay marriage appeals cases

The Supreme Court on Wednesday formally added gay marriage cases from five states to the justices' agenda for their closed-door conference on Sept. 29.

Officials from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin have filed appeals asking the court to consider whether bans on gay marriage in those states are constitutional. Under consideration is whether states have the power to bar same-sex couples from getting married and whether they may refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, according to SCOTUSblog.

The action on Wednesday does not mean that the court will immediately decide to hear state appeals of lower-court rulings that struck down bans on same-sex marriage. But the late-September conference will be the first time the justices have the issue before them. The meeting will be the justices' first since late June.

The justices could put off deciding whether to take up gay marriage until January and still be able to issue a decision by the end of the 2014–15 term in late June.

The Supreme Court set a precedent on gay marriage in 2013, when it struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1996, which for the federal government’s purposes, defined marriage as being between one man and one woman, preventing same-sex spouses from receiving the same federal tax, health and retirement benefits available to married opposite-sex couples.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press