U.S.

Supreme Court Will Discuss Taking Up Same-Sex Marriage Case Today—Here’s What To Know

Supreme Court Will Discuss Taking Up Same-Sex Marriage Case Today—Here’s What To Know

Supreme Court justices are expected to deliberate Friday over whether to consider overturning the court’s precedent legalizing same-sex marriage, meaning an announcement on the case’s fate could come within days—but it’s still unclear whether or not the justices will actually take up the case.

The Supreme Court has been asked to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the court’s landmark 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

Kim Davis, the former county clerk who made headlines after the 2015 ruling for still refusing to perform same-sex marriages—and was briefly imprisoned for doing so—has asked the court to take up the case, as part of a long-running legal dispute between her and a same-sex couple whom she refused to marry.

Davis’ opponents have asked the court not to hear the case, arguing Davis did not properly make her arguments in lower courts about overturning Obergefell and the First Amendment allowing her right to refuse same-sex marriage certificates, and that even if she had, the ex-clerk’s “arguments are simply wrong.”

The court has announced justices will consider the case for the first time at their private conference Friday, meaning a decision on whether or not they’ll take up the case could come anytime after.

The Supreme Court has not made any decision on whether the case will be heard, however, and the justices considering it at their conference is a routine step that does not give any indication of their decision.

While the court taking up the case for its conference Friday means a decision on its fate could come out soon after—including later in the day Friday or Monday morning when the court issues a full list of orders—it’s also common for petitions in major cases to be heard at multiple conferences, so a decision could still take weeks or months to come out.

Whether the court will take up the case. The Supreme Court receives thousands of requests to hear cases and rejects the vast majority of them, so them being asked to consider the same-sex marriage precedent does not necessarily mean they actually will.