The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether the U.S. Constitution guarantees all Americans the right to enter into same-sex marriages.

The high-profile case has the potential to legalize gay marriage in all 50 states or to roll the practice back by overturning a series of federal court rulings that have dramatically expanded the availability of same-sex unions in the past year-and-a-half.


In an order Friday afternoon, the court announced that it granted four petitions seeking a review of a federal appeals court ruling in November that found there is no federal right to same-sex-marriage.

The issue is likely to be argued at the high court in late April and decided before the court’s current term ends in June.

The Supreme Court’s timing could be a double-edged sword for Republican politicians, many of whom have been caught between a dramatic change in public opinion in favor of same-sex marriage right and the views of the party’s socially-conservative base, which remains opposed to such unions.

The court’s schedule seems certain to raise the profile of the issue dramatically in the coming months, just as the presidential contests in both major parties are getting underway. However, a decision by June of this year — especially one that finds a federal right to same-sex marriage — has the potential to clear the issue off the national agenda before the parties settle on their nominees and before most Americans tune in to the presidential race.

“It could potentially defuse this issue — if not defuse it, at least lessen its importance — before the GOP really gets rolling in its primary season,” said Gregory Angelo of the Log Cabin Republicans, whose group supports same-sex marriage rights. “This is an issue that those in the know in the GOP understand is not a winning issue for the party.”

Some Republicans feared the high court might wait until next term to dig into the issue, kicking up the profile of same-sex marriage rights right in the middle of the presidential race.

Dealing with the issue in June 2016 “would have been one month before the Republican National Convention, raising this hot-button, polarizing issue within weeks of that convention,” Angelo said.

A spokesman for one social conservative group said Friday that even if a high court ruling striking down same-sex marriage bans defused the issue ahead of the 2016 presidential race, it would likely provoke a more intense reaction over a period of years.

“You’re going to get sort of the equivalent of a Roe v. Wade — opposition to it built over time,” said Chris Gacek of the Family Research Council, referring to the landmark 1973 decision on abortion rights. “If you get a ruling that doesn’t allow the democratic process to work, I think you are going to have to problem in the long term, but people are not just going to be running to Iowa or something” to raise it in the presidential race,” he said.

In 2013, the justices ruled that the U.S. government had to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states, but in the 5-4 decision the court left open the question of whether states were required to permit such unions.

Many court observers expect Justice Anthony Kennedy to join with the court’s liberals to find such a right, as he did when he penned the court’s opinion striking down the Defense of Marriage Act two years ago.

However, Kennedy also has a history of being an outspoken voice for state autonomy, which could complicate his views.

In October, the justices passed up a series of petitions asking them to resolve the dispute over same-sex marriage rights. As is the justices’ custom, they offered no explanation for their decision at that time.

Legal experts said the court often passes up such issues until a split develops among federal appeals courts.

That arose in November when the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned lower court rulings that found a federal right to same-sex marriage. The 6th Circuit holding is at odds with four other federal appeals courts — the 4th, 7th, 9th and 10th circuits— which have found such a right protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Same-sex marriage is currently legal in 36 states. The latest to recognize the practice was Florida, which began issuing marriage licenses last week as the result of a federal judge’s ruling last summer.