By David G. Savage 3:15 PM EST, December 7, 2012 The Supreme
Court announced Friday it will rule for the first time on same-
sex marriage by deciding the constitutionality of California’s
Proposition 8, the voter initiative that limited marriage to a
man and a woman. The justices also said they would decide
whether legally married gay couples have a right to equal
benefits under federal law. The California case raises the broad
question of whether gays and lesbians have an equal right to
marry. If the justices had turned down the appeal from the
defenders of Prop. 8, it would have allowed gay marriages to
resume in California, but without setting a national precedent.
Now, the high court has agreed to decide whether a state’s ban
on same-sex marriages violates the U.S. Constitution. The
court’s intervention came just one month after voters in three
states — Maine, Maryland and Washington — approved gay
marriages. This brought the total to nine states having
legalized same-sex marriages. But the justices also l