Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts may have grounds to justify a vote in support of same-sex marriage as the high court mulls the issues in advance of a much-anticipated ruling,
the Daily Caller reports.
Roberts in early comments leaned into the idea that the case was more about sexual discrimination or gender bias than simply same-sex marriage, the Daily Caller noted.
"I'm not sure it's necessary to get into sexual orientation to resolve this case," Roberts said in discussions Tuesday,
The New York Times reported.
"I mean, if Sue loves Joe and Tom loves Joe, Sue can marry him and Tom can't. And the difference is based upon their different sex," Roberts noted. "Why isn't that a straightforward question of sexual discrimination?"
Both Roberts as well Anthony Kennedy are expected to hold the key to the case, CNN reported in an interview with Steve Vladeck, a constitutional law professor at American University, who cautioned against too much guessing in advance of the ruling.
"It's going to be close, it's going to be divisive and it's going to come down to [Justice Anthony] Kennedy and Roberts," Vladeck
told CNN as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Obergefell vs Hodges this week.
NPR described the discussions of the court in the case as "deeply divided," with the issue of "individual rights" bumping up against the idea of "traditional" marriage.
"How do you account for the fact that, as far as I'm aware, until the end of the 20th century, there never was a nation or a culture that recognized marriage between two people of the same sex?" Justice Samuel Alito queried,
according to NPR.
"Is it your argument that they were all operating independently based solely on irrational stereotypes and prejudice?" Alito asked.
His liberal counterpart Stephen Breyer seemed to follow the same track, NPR said.
"Suddenly you want nine people outside the ballot box to require states that don't want to do it to change ... what marriage is," Breyer pointed out. "Why cannot those states at least wait and see whether doing so is harmful to marriage?"