Why Same-Sex Marriage Is Looking 'Inevitable'

The Supreme Court won't hear arguments on the issue of same-sex marriage until tomorrow—but already, it seems observers have made up their minds, writes Sam Baker at the National Journal: The justices will support marriage equality. According to "conventional wisdom," says a court expert, "there seems to be an inevitability" about the decision. And it's not unfounded, Baker notes. When the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, the dissenting justices saw the majority setting the stage for gay marriage. And since then, the high court has refused to hear state appeals to federal courts' rulings allowing gay marriage.

It is taking action now, however, after a federal court backed marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. And it's looking like Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the DOMA decision, will move against the bans. Still, the question of federalism remains: The court previously said the decision should be left up to the states. "You could never safely say that the case is a foregone conclusion," the court expert says. "There [are] centuries of history that are lined up against the claim here, and we have the most conservative Supreme Court in the nation's history." Click for Baker's full piece. (More gay marriage stories.)