George Will: Election Victories Could Impact Supreme Court On Gay Marriage

Conservative commentator George Will notes that recent ballot box victories could impact the Supreme Court on gay marriage.

Those November 6 victories include voters in three states – Maryland, Washington state and Maine – legalizing marriage equality and Minnesotans rejecting an effort to ban it.

The Supreme Court on Friday announced it would hear two cases related to marriage equality: a case challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and another challenging Proposition 8, California's 2008 voter-approved constitutional amendment banning gay nuptials.

Would increasing support for such unions impact the court's decision?

“This decision by the Supreme Court came 31 days after an election day in which 3 states for the first time endorsed same-sex marriage at the ballot box – never happened before,” Will said on ABC's This Week.

Those victories “could make them say it's not necessary for us to go here.”

“On the other hand, they could say it's now safe to look at this because there is something like an emerging consensus.”

“Quite literally, the opposition to gay marriage is dying – it's old people,” he added.