HISTORIC DAY

Supreme Court to Vote on Gay Marriage

DOMA and Prop 8 on the table.

It’s a historic day at the Supreme Court, as justices are slated to deliver opinions on not one but two gay-marriage cases Wednesday before they head off on summer vacation. The issues on the table are the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage. The ruling could be as broad as providing all gay couples with the same constitutional marriage rights given to heterosexuals, or the justices could get bogged down by legal technicalities, resulting in no real change to gay-marriage laws. While 30 states have taken it upon themselves to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage, several others have legalized it over the past several years or are expected to do so.