Friday: Now is the time for SCOTUS to consider the freedom to marry

Friday, January 16, the United States Supreme Court will hold its second conference of 2015, which will be the second chance the Court has to grant or deny review of the four marriage cases currently before it. The cases are from four states -- Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio. 

The cases - Michigan's DeBoer v. Snyder, Kentucky's Bourke v. Beshear and Love v. Beshear, Ohio's Obergefell v. Wymyslo and Henry v. Hodges, and Tennessee's Tanco v. Haslam were distributed by the Supreme Court on January 9. On that day, they denied review in an out-of-step ruling upholding marriage discrimination in Louisiana. The ruling has not yet received judgment from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which heard oral argument in the case on Friday. You can read about each of these petitions and the cases at our Supreme Court hub.

After the January 16 conference, the Court will announce if it will grant review in one or more of the cases, meaning it has agreed to hear oral arguments and likely offer judgment. If the Court makes no mention of the marriage cases after the conference, the cases will likely be relisted for consideration at a future conference. The subsequent conference this winter will be held on January 23.

We'll be updating you along the way and keeping you posted with the latest information about how we'll help push toward a national victory for the freedom to marry as soon as possible.

It is more important than ever that the nation's highest court take up a marriage case and end marriage discrimination - every day that same-sex couples are denied, real American families are hurt, and the only way to end this unfair treatment is for the Supreme Court to act.