The Supreme Court has set the dates for oral argument of the two same-sex marriage cases it agreed to hear late last year:
The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will hear arguments in late March on two key cases on the issue of same-sex marriage.
On March 26, the justices will hear Hollingsworth v. Perry, on the issue of California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. The justices have agreed to hear argument on the question of whether the U.S. Constitution bars California from limiting marriage to unions of one man and one woman. They will also consider whether those defending Proposition 8 have the standing necessary to do so.
On March 27, the justices are set to hear U.S. v. Windsor, about whether the federal Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996 violates the U.S. Constitution. Another question to be argued is whether the Congress—acting through the House of Represenatives’ Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group—can defend DOMA even though the Obama Administration agreed with a federal appeals court that the law is unconstitutional.
These dates fall right in the middle of the one year anniversary of the three day period in March 2012 during which the Court hear oral argument in the cases challenging the Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Given the intense public interest in these matters, I imagine that the Court will make transcripts and audio recordings of the arguments available on an expedited basis after the arguments are finished. Additionally, now that the dates for argument are set, we should start seeing briefs coming through relatively soon.
