Obama to Urge Supreme Court to Allow California Gay Marriage

President Barack Obama's administration will urge the U.S. Supreme Court to allow same-sex marriages to resume in California, the furthest step Obama has taken in favor of gay rights, an administration official said Thursday, Reuters reports. Thursday was the deadline for the administration to file a friend-of-the-court brief in a case that is due to be argued on March 26 regarding whether Proposition 8 -- California's 2008 voter-approved measure that defined marriage in the state as between one man and one woman -- is constitutional. In a brief submitted last Friday, the Obama administration also urged the Supreme Court to strike down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The court will hear oral arguments on DOMA on March 27.