The Supreme Court decided Friday that it will take on the issue of the legality of gay marriage nationwide.
The nine justices will hear oral arguments in favor or against gay marriage in April and will come to a decision by June, according to CNN.
The court received petitions from four states all in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld the gay marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
The court said it will hear two and a half hours worth of arguments, The New York Times reported. The first 90 minutes will be dedicated to answering if the Constitution covers gay marriage. The remaining hour will focus on answering if states must recognize a marriage between a couple of the same sex when they received a legal license outside of the state.
The plaintiffs who filed the Ohio petition want the justices to hear their case, Obergefell v. Hodges, because Ohio refuses to recognize the legality of gay marriage outside of the state.
Gov. Bill Haslam (R-Tenn.) believes the Supreme Court should decline to hear the case Tanco v. Haslam. In Michigan, the case DeBoer v. Snyder challenge the state's ban on gay marriage. Two sets of plaintiffs brought the Kentucky case, Bourke v. Beshear, to the Supreme Court. The first group seeks recognition of their legal marriages outside of the state, and the second group seeks the right to marry in Kentucky.
A total of 36 states allow gay marriage, Florida being the most recent state to permit it. The District of Columbia also legalized gay marriage, CNN reported.
In October, the Supreme Court refused to hear several gay marriage cases, but that has changed since many lower federal courts are divided on the issue. However, the court ruled that legally married gay couples are entitled to the same federal benefits as opposite sex married couples June 26, 2013. A ruling that went against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.
