When Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in a landmark gay rights case in 2016, he didn’t mince words: “The question now before us is not whether marriage equality should be permitted, but whether the Constitution permits it.”
The next year, when the court declined to review an Arizona law that barred gay marriage, Kennedy wrote a concurring opinion saying, “Marriage is a social contract between a man and a woman.”
He added, “This is a fundamental principle of our Constitution.”
He concluded that same-sex couples, like everyone else, should be allowed to legally marry.
Now, with the court considering two key gay rights cases—one in Virginia and one in Maryland—Kennedy’s view of marriage and his personal stance on same-gender couples could provide a blueprint for the court’s future decisions.
The Supreme Court justices will soon have to weigh whether a person’s gender identity is a protected category under the law.
This decision could change how many states and municipalities enforce anti-discrimination protections, and whether states can impose a ban on the discrimination of LGBT people.
And, perhaps most importantly, it could provide justices with an important opportunity to review a precedent they have used in recent years to expand the right of states to prohibit discrimination against LGBT people, which the Supreme in 2015 struck down as discriminatory.
The question is, do the justices agree?
What if the court rules on the issue?
Here’s what you need to know about how gay rights and marriage rights will shape the court for the next 50 years.
*Supreme Court hears argument on gay marriage cases* The Supreme court is expected to hear arguments on two of the three gay marriage issues this term: a challenge from Maryland to a state law barring discrimination against gay couples; and a challenge by Virginia to a gay marriage ban.
Both cases were filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, and both are on the docket for the full court this term.
The issue that could change the court the most is the one facing the country’s highest court, which is the case of two same-play states: Virginia and Maryland.
The court has already ruled that same sex couples have the same right to marry as opposite-sex partners.
The states appealed from the ruling, which came down in 2016.
But the appeals court said the case should not be heard by the full Supreme Court because the justices would not have jurisdiction to hear it.
The state Supreme Court has yet to take up the case, which would leave the lower court ruling in place.
In the meantime, the appeals courts have allowed the state of Virginia and the Maryland courts to consider a case in which the Maryland Supreme Court ruled in favor of a same-marriage ban.
If the Supreme court rules that gay couples can legally marry in Virginia, Maryland and Virginia could be the only states that have banned gay marriage since 2015.
The other two states are Wisconsin and Nebraska.
The first gay marriage case is from Virginia, which has not yet recognized same-party marriages between same- and opposite-gender partners.
Maryland legalized same-person marriages in June, and the state is expected this summer to become the 17th state to allow same- gender marriages.
In November, the Maryland legislature passed a law making it easier for people to get a marriage license if they are registered to vote in the same gender.
In 2018, the Supreme House of Delegates amended the state constitution to allow the state’s voters to decide whether to legalize same- sex marriage, as long as they don’t want to do so themselves.
And the Maryland House is expected next year to pass a bill to do the same.
In other words, the high court is likely to take a different approach than it did with the Maryland law.
If Virginia and other states don’t allow gay marriage this year, the federal government could appeal to the Supreme Supreme Court.
But if the Supreme justices overturn Maryland’s ban on gay marriages this year and take the case to the full Court, it would leave a question hanging over the future of marriage equality in the United States.
The next issue is whether states must permit same-day marriages.
This case involves the same-age, same-place and same-parent laws that have already been struck down by the courts in Virginia.
If these laws were upheld, same sex parents could not adopt their children, and same sex marriages would be banned nationwide.
But in 2018, Maryland repealed the same laws.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in its 2017 Obergefell ruling, said the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities did not have the authority to override state laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The decision also said that states could not impose laws that “deny equal protection of the laws.”
This case is different because the U,S.
Constitution does not guarantee a right to same- or opposite- sex couples to marry.
The parties disagree about how to resolve the issue of same- age, same, and opposite