Obama administration formally supports nationwide gay marriage - CNN.com

Obama administration formally supports nationwide gay marriage - CNN.com

Ariane De Vogue:

Same-sex marriage “incompatible with the Constitution,” the Obama administration Friday filed a brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in support of couples who are making challenges in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.

“The marriage bans challenged in these cases impermissibly exclude lesbian and gay couples from the rights, responsibilities and status of civil marriage,” Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. wrote. He said the states have “burdened petitioners in every aspect of life that marriage touches, from the mundane to the profound.”

The brief marks the first time the administration has formally made a filing with the high court supporting its position that bans on gay marriage should be declared unconstitutional nationwide.

The court will hear arguments in the state cases on April 28.

Timing is everything.