Fourteeth Amendment

Last Portion

(Notes)

Cases Heard by the U. S. Supreme Court

Except for cases of original jurisdiction, cases heard by the Supreme Court must first go though the state and federal courts. Only 1% of petitions for certiorari, asking the Supreme Court to review a lower court case decision, will be selected by the court for review. Often the court will try to address cases in which courts of appeal decisions are at odds with each other or the Supreme Court's decision will have broad legal implications. Through the years the Supreme Court has also stepped in to settle disputes between the states themselves.

Discussion

On April 28, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case argument regarding gay marriage, for the first time, in the Obergefell v. Hodges. This case was a consolidation of 4 appealsfrom the Sixth Circuit Appeals Court (cases orginated from Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, and Kentucky).

On Tuesday, the Justices asked both sides to answer/argue this two questions:

1.      Does the Fourteeth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex?

2.      Does the Fourteeth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state?

For the audio of the arguments: listen short audio

Audio Question 1.     http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2014/14-556-q1

Audio Question 2.     http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2014/14-556-q2

Transcript Question 1.  http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/14-556q1_11o2.pdf

Transcript  Question  2.

http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/14-556q2_f2ah.pdf

·         How would you answer the above two questions? 

·         Does the U.S. Supreme Court have the right to decide this issue for us?