Supreme Court, Gay Rights | featured news

The federal Defense of Marriage Act may be history in a matter of months, but same-sex couples won't be the financial winners, and the U.S. Treasury won't be the loser. Those are but some of the unexpected consequences that could emerge if the Supreme Court overturns the 1996 law, which appeared likely — though far from assured — following Wednesday's oral arguments.

What is at stake? The case concerns the part of the law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for purposes of federal benefits. Should the court strike it down, same-sex couples in the nine states that allow such unions, along with the District of Columbia, would start to receive federal benefits. Such a ruling would not require other states to allow same-sex marriage.

The Supreme Court began hearing a historic one-hour oral argument on marriage Tuesday which could lead to any one of a wide array of possible decisions -- from essentially leaving in place the traditional marriage laws now on the books in most states to proclaiming same-sex marriage a fundamental right under the United States Constitution.

The U.S. Supreme Court did not address the California gay-marriage case on Monday morning. The next time they can consider it is on Friday.

Advocates of same-sex marriage won a major legal victory — and greatly increased the odds of a U.S. Supreme Court showdown on the subject — as an appeals court ruled that the government could not deny tax, Social Security and other federal benefits to gay couples who were legally married in their home states.