The Supreme Court ruled in favor of same sex marriage. The court ruled that the Constitution guarantees a nationwide right to same-sex marriage. The same sex marriage decision is a historic victory for gay rights activists who have fought for years in the lower courts.

"Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee define marriage as a union between one man and one woman," reads the decision.

"The petitioners, 14 same-sex couples and two men whose same-sex partners are deceased, filed suits in Federal District Courts in their home States, claiming that respondent state officials violate the Fourteenth Amendment by denying them the right to marry or to have marriages lawfully performed in another State given full recognition. Each District Court ruled in petitioners' favor, but the Sixth Circuit consolidated the cases and reversed."

The court held that "The Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-State."

The majority opinion was written by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy after the the 5 to 4 decision. Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia already recognize marriage equality. The remaining 13 states ban same sex unions. Public support for the law has reached record levels nationwide.

"Gay and lesbian people are equal," Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. said in a statement. "They deserve equal protection of the laws, and they deserve it now."

The Supreme Court justices also were considering the question of whether a state is required to recognize a same-sex couple's marriage as legal if it was performed out-of-state.

Jim Obergefell, of Cincinnati, the named plaintiff in the case, along with his partner John Arthur, sued the state of Ohio in July, 2013 after they were married in Maryland, which recognizes same-sex marriage. Arthur, who was suffering from ALS, died in October, 2013. The court had to decide whether the state would list Obergefell as Arthur's surviving spouse on his death certificate.

The Obergefell case was consolidated with three others, including challenges to same-sex marriage restrictions in Tennessee, Michigan and Kentucky.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in November that Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage did not violate the constitution.  

President Barack Obama was the first sitting president to support marriage equality when he came out in favor of it in 2012. The Republican Party remains opposed to same-sex marriage. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) support a constitutional amendment protecting states that want to ban marriage equality.