In its first official business of the new year, the U.S. Supreme Court will meet to consider whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry no matter which state they live in, or whether states can individually decide if marriage should only be allowed between a man and a woman.
The nine justices will meet behind closed doors just three days after Florida became the 36th state in the country, in addition to the District of Columbia, to allow gay marriage. They will consider petitions from lower courts in five states in which judges upheld laws banning marriage for same-sex couples.
