On Friday, January 16, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to several same-sex couples, all of them plaintiffs in DeBoer v. Snyder, et al., No. 14-571. The plaintiffs have asked the Court to overrule the opinion issued by the 6th Circuit on November 6, 2014. (MRW covered that issue in Same Sex Marriage in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee:  An Analysis of DeBoer v. Snyder.)

Certiorari was not unexpected, as the 4th, 7th, 9th, and 10th circuits have all ruled in favor of same sex marriage. Nothing requires the Court to resolve a split among the circuit courts, but it happens routinely when the split involves an issue that reaches many people.

In its order granting certiorari