Justices ponder narrow Prop 8 ruling

A family attends a March for Marriage on the Washington Mall as the Supreme Court hears arguments for and against California's Proposition 8, which defined marriage as between a man and woman. Photo by Doug Carlson.

The U.S. Supreme Court struggled during oral arguments in a landmark case regarding same-sex marriage with not only how it should rule but whether it should rule on the constitutional issues involved in the controversial subject.

The justices heard arguments Tuesday (March 26) in the first of two days of considering whether states and the federal government can limit marriage to the traditional definition of the union only of a man and a woman.

The high court weighed whether Proposition 8, a 2008 amendment approved by California voters, is constitutional. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down Prop 8, which defined marriage in the traditional sense.

On Wednesday (March 27), the justices will hear arguments regarding a section of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that defines marriage in federal law as only a heterosexual union. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated that portion of the 1996 law. Read more

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