The U.S. Supreme Court's declaration on Friday of a right to same-sex marriage resolved a momentous question, yet the ruling left many others unanswered and is likely to spark future legal battles over gay rights.
With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to rule by the end of the month on whether same-sex marriage is legal, many Christian evangelicals say they would refuse to obey a decision allowing gay unions.
U.S. district judges struck down same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional in Arkansas and Mississippi on Tuesday, overturning measures voters had overwhelmingly approved in both socially conservative Southern states.
President Barack Obama, hoping for a strong turnout from female voters for Democratic candidates in congressional and gubernatorial elections next week, put women in the spotlight on Friday at an economic-focused event in Rhode Island.
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor told the Chicago Tribune that perhaps she and her colleagues should have turned down the George W. Bush campaign's appeal of a Florida Supreme Court decision to allow a recount request by the Al Gore campaign. Justice O'Connor had been in the majority in the high court's 5-4 decision that stopped the recount, sealing Bush's election.
