On January 16, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear four consolidated appeals coming out of the Sixth Circuit. The issues before the Court are whether the 14th Amendment requires states to license same-sex marriages and whether states must recognize same-sex marriages lawfully licensed in other states. In short, the Supreme Court will determine whether same-sex marriage is a constitutionally protected right.

Same-sex marriage litigation took a drastic turn in 2013 when the Supreme Court struck down the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA) in United States v. Windsor. DOMA barred same-sex married couples from federal benefits and excluded same-sex spouses from laws protecting families of federal officers, laws regarding financial aid, and federal ethics laws applicable to opposite-sex spouses.

In sharp contrast to most other courts, the Sixth Circuit upheld bans on same-sex marriage in Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, and Kentucky, relying on Justice Kennedy’s opinion in Windsor: “The incidents, benefits, and obligations of marriage are uniform for all married couples within each State. . .they may vary, subject to constitutional guarantees, from one State to the next.”

The Supreme Court decides to hear only a small fraction of the cases that it is petitioned to review and had previously determined to leave the issue of same-sex marriage up to the states. The Sixth Circuit’s decision to uphold four states’ bans on same-sex marriage, in sharp contrast to other federal court decisions, prompted the Supreme Court justices to put an end to the controversy and resolve the Circuit split.

Petitioners and respondents will have two and a half hours to argue the case. Ninety minutes will be allotted for question one, and sixty minutes will be allotted for question two. Justices will then have until the end of the term to file their opinions.