US Supreme Court to rule on gay marriage cases

The US Supreme Court has entered into the debate on gay marriage for the first time.

It agreed on Friday to review two challenges to federal and state laws that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The country's highest court decided to review a case against a federal law that denies married same-sex couples the federal benefits heterosexual couples receive.

It also unexpectedly took up a challenge to California's ban on gay marriage, known as Proposition 8, which voters narrowly approved in 2008.

Same-sex marriage is a politically charged issue in a country where 31 of the 50 states have passed constitutional amendments banning it, while Washington, DC, and nine states have legalised it, three of them on Election Day last month.

The tide of public opinion has been shifting in favour of allowing same-sex marriage.

In May, President Barack Obama became the first US president to say he believed same-sex couples should be allowed to get married.

A Pew Research Center survey from October found 49 percent of Americans favoured allowing gay marriage, with 40 percent opposed.

Backers of the California case argue that voters in the state breached the US Constitution by passing Proposition 8.

They will argue that a state Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriage to go ahead should stand. No gay weddings are currently allowed in California, pending the outcome of the Proposition 8 case.

Doma, a federal law signed by former President Bill Clinton, has been overturned by four federal courts and two courts of appeal. They said Doma unfairly discriminated against same-sex couples.

It was most recently rejected by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, which ruled 2 to 1 on October that it violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution.

President Barack Obama, who backed gay marriage in May, also took the unusual step of announcing that his administration would not back Doma in court.

Although the federal government no longer defends Doma, it is the New York case, first brought by a widow called Edith Windsor, that the Supreme Court will hear.

She was forced to pay more than $350,000 (£220,000) in taxes after the death of her wife because Section 3 of Doma defines "marriage" and "spouse" as only relating to unions of men and women.

The law is supported by Republicans in Congress, and lawyers acting for the House of Representatives leadership are defending the law instead of the US government.

The court was also asked to consider the merits of a challenge to part of a 2009 Arizona law granting marital benefits only to legally married state employees. Gay marriage is not legal in Arizona.

But the nine justices chose not to hear that case, instead opting for the two cases analysts say offer a chance of a broad ruling.