The US Supreme Court has decided to hear challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, and a challenge to California's ban on same sex marriage through Proposition 8.

While I expect the Supreme Court to declare DOMA unconstitutional as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (I'll predict a 7-2 vote), it will be interesting to see the standard of review and whether they decide the matter narrowly or render an opinion as to whether the Fourteenth Amendment precludes states from limiting marriage to heterosexuals.

The California challenge is an appeal from the Circuit Court's finding that California's ban of same sex marriage is unconstitutional in that it violated the CA Supreme Court's earlier decision allowing same sex marriage. It is possible that the US Supreme Court may decide this matter on the same narrow issue of whether a voter referendum can invalidate a state supreme court decision. Then again, the Court, if it desires, may issue a broader ruling on whether states have the constitutional right even to preclude same sex marriages.

I believe that it is only a matter of time before the Supreme Court decides that the Equal Protection Clause precludes states from barring same sex marriage. If they use the pending California case to render such a decision, it will be very ironic that Proposition 8, designed to prevent gay marriage, will have been the launching pad for invalidating all statutory and constitutional bans on gay marriage throughout the country.