Two federal appellate courts are poised to decide the constitutionality of three state bans against same-sex marriage and move the fundamental question closer to the U.S. Supreme Court.
With surprising speed, federal district judges in four months have struck down same-sex marriage prohibitions in six states and another state’s ban on recognition of out-of-state gay marriages. Now it is their appellate-level counterparts’ turn to decide whether a state, consistent with the U.S. constitution, may define marriage as only the union of a man and a woman.
