Pennsylvania Becomes Latest Gay Marriage State

Published May 21, 2014 at 12:40 PM CDT

Peg Welch, center left, and her wife Delma Welch gather with others at a gay marriage rally on the steps of the state Capitol Tuesday, May 20, 2014, in Harrisburg, Pa. Pennsylvania's ban on gay marriage was overturned Tuesday by a federal judge in a decision that makes same-sex marriage legal throughout the Northeast. (Matt Rourke/AP)

Pennsylvania’s Republican Governor Tom Corbett says he won’t appeal yesterday’s ruling from a federal judge striking down a state law that banned gay marriage.

Hundreds of gay couples are rushing to get married in the state, which as of today has become the 19th state where gay marriage is legal.

On Monday, a federal judge in Oregon struck down a voter-approved ban on gay marriage and a federal judge in Utah ordered state officials to recognize more than 1,000 gay marriages performed there in the two weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency stay.

Ultimately, the issue will wind its way back to the U.S. Supreme Court, because in its decision last year striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, the high court didn’t weigh in on whether state bans of same-sex marriage violated the Constitution.

Carl Tobias, professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law, discusses this with Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson.

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Guest

Carl Tobias, professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law.