Supreme Court sets date for gay marriage case

The Supreme Court will hear arguments next month in a blockbuster case on whether states can ban gay marriage, the court announced Thursday.

A ruling is expected to be handed down by June.

Justices on April 28 will hear arguments in the case, which centers on whether the Fourteenth Amendment, particularly the Equal Protection Clause, requires a state to license marriages between same-sex couples and recognize same-sex marriages if they were performed in other states.

{mosads}The court announced a prolonged two-and-a-half-hour session, during which the nine justices will hear from parties arguing an appeal of a lower court ruling in November that upheld gay marriage bans in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.

That case broke a string of rulings striking down gay marriage bans, creating a split in the lower courts that prompted the Supreme Court to take up the issue.

The high court announced in January that it would add the case to its docket, which already includes a closely watched ObamaCare challenge regarding federal tax subsidies in states that have not set up health insurance exchanges. Oral arguments for that case were presented Wednesday.

Thirty-seven states allow gay marriage, while the Alabama Supreme Court on Tuesday instructed probate judges to stop issuing licenses after a U.S. District judge overturned the state’s ban.