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Supreme Court Gay Marriage Cases Will Decide Idaho

File photo of the west face of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.
UpstateNYer
/
Wikimedia
File photo of the west face of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Supreme Court Friday agreed to take up cases challenging gay marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Idaho’s petition to reinstate its gay marriage ban was not included.

But the state Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said the Supreme Court decision will affect Idaho.

“The court will make a determination of whether states have the ability to define marriage as between a man and a woman, or whether they don’t have that authority based upon the equal protection provisions of the United States Constitution,” Wasden said. “That’s essentially where the argument is going to go. So the outcome of there will have impact in Idaho; will have impact in all of the 50 states.”

The justices will consider two issues: first, whether all states must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and second, whether states must recognize licenses other states have issued.

Copyright 2015 Northwest News Network

Jessica Robinson
Jessica Robinson reported for four years from the Northwest News Network's bureau in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho as the network's Inland Northwest Correspondent. From the politics of wolves to mining regulation to small town gay rights movements, Jessica covered the economic, demographic and environmental trends that have shaped places east of the Cascades. Jessica left the Northwest News Network in 2015 for a move to Norway.