Independents, 2025853882. If youre outside the u. S. , its 2025853883. You can also catch up with us on all your favorite pages on witter, facebook, or email us. A very good monday morning to you. We begin with the front page of the American Press from lake charles, louisiana. Supreme court in session, justices expected to take on the issue of gay marriage. That headline dominating several of the major papers today and over the weekend. Heres the front page of the usa today, justices term starts slow, could explode is the headline there to yesterdays front page of the Washington Post. The defining moment possible for the court. The prospect of a major ruling on gay marriage looms large. And read you a bit from the reuters story previewing todays opening day of the new term. This term, which runs to the end of june, is expected to be defined by whatever action the justices take on whether states can ban gay marriage. They have not yet agreed to hear any of the seven cases already decided by federal Appeals Courts. For more on that topic, we turn to the author of that story, Lawrence Hurley, the Supreme Court correspondent for reuters. Want to talk to you, lawyerness hurley, first about why the Supreme Court has not taken up this issue yet as so many people expect it will by the end of the term. Guest well, the court often delays action on big cases, so its not hugely surprising, but the seven cases that are before the justices, and theyve had time to consider it, and were expecting that well hear something in the next couple of weeks. Host is there any expectation the court could take a pass, or is everyone fairly certain at this point . Guest thats always possible. Of course, if they decline to take the cases, that would leave the Appeals Court ruling intact, which would immediately lead to a whole series of other states getting gay marriage, and that would obviously cause a lot of uncertainty in the court system, because then youll have a part of the country where courts have ruled that its invalid and other parts where its still up in the air. Host is there one specific case that is more likely than the seven others that are before the court that the court might take up . Guest well, thats going a point of discussion amongst legal experts as to which of the cases might be best. Its possible the court could take more than one. Some of the cases raise slightly different issues, not just about whether a state can ban gay marriage, but also whether a state that doesnt allow gay marriage has to recognize a marriage that takes place in a state that is legal, so there are a couple of different issues there. Host is there a court could avoid the issue of gay marriage and the overwhelming issue of gay marriage here . Could they do Something Like they did with the proposition 8 case and decide on a more narrow term . It would seem to be pretty unlikely. If they agree, it would be pretty unlikely they could avoid the big question. Host Lawrence Hurley is from reuters. Heres another one of the stories previewing whats happening today. Are arriage business cases on the docket. What else is on the docket starting today . Guest the court doesnt have any blockbuster cases yet, aside from the gay marriage issue, but theres some quite interesting cases both on the business side and general interest cases, some of which the criminal cases and some more kind of technical businesses. One of the interesting ones being argued tomorrow is about a muslim prison inmate from arkansas who wants to grow a beard in acourtance with his beliefs, and the prison officials said he couldnt. Hes sued under a religious freedom law, and the court actually agreed toer that case after he initially wrote a handwritten court filing himself, which is pretty unusual. So the court will be hearing that tomorrow, and thats an interesting issue, especially coming after the hobby lobby case at the end of last term, which also raised the issue of eligious rights. Host what cases get the honor of going the opening day . Guest the court is hearing a criminal case about a man who was stopped, his car was stopped by police in north arolina because one of his taillights the car was initially stopped because one of his taillights wasnt working. When the police searched the car, they found drugs. But the issue there is whether the Police Actually could stop him, because in North Carolina you only need to have one working tail light. So technically he actually there was no reason for the police to stop him. Scommoip Lawrence Hurley, are you heading up to the court today to watch todays cause . Appreciate your time this morning to preview the cases. Well get back to you later in the term. Thanks for joining under the circumstances. Guest thanks a lot. Host were asking our viewers, should the Supreme Court take up the issue of gay marriage . Were taking your calls. Our phone lines are open. We can also follow your tweets as well. cspanwj. O us one of those tweets, Supreme Court should take it up. The civil liberties, etc. , need to be protected. Were taking your calls and comments for this first 5 minutes this morning on the washington journal. Well begin with shirley calling in from michigan on our line for democrats. Shirley, good morning. Caller hi. I believe that the Supreme Court should take it up, because theyre american citizens. Theres no ifs, but and ands about whos who. Scommoip shirley, how should the Supreme Court decide down the road if and when they do take it up like you say they should . Caller what do you mean after they take it up . Host how do you think they should decide on the case . Caller oh, they should decide, yes, they should be able to marry, because theyre american citizens. Host thats shirley from michigan. Were taking your calls and comments all morning for the first 45 minutes. Anita is next, calling in from North Carolina on our line for republicans. Anita, good morning. Caller good morning. How are you . Host good. Anita, go ahead. Caller ok. I think gay marriage should be taken care of by the Supreme Court, because theyre adopting children, and any situation where children are involved should have government supervision. Just like i would think a 14yearold girl having children, the government should have some say over how things should happen because children would be would be involved. Anything outside of what they will call them now and female relationship, including those relationships have to be governed by, you know, and supervised by a government, and i think the government should have a lot of psychologists involved so that for some reason the children are involved, that, you know, the issues can be taken care of professionally and also the business of, like they say, they want healthcare, they want to be able to inherent property. Im not gay. I dont practice that. But i feel people going to do what they want to do, and if this government allows people to live the way they feel comfortable, that they should allow them to do that, but they also should protect the rights of other people being in a situation with them. Host what do you think about the evolution of the gay marriage debate in this country . Res a Pew Research Center polling showing those in favor. Those in favor as of 2014, 54 support samesex marriage as of today. Does that sound about right to ou as you watch this debate . Caller do i think its increasing . Host yeah. Caller well, i think more people are probably understanding, and yes, it is increasing, because you cant tell an adult what to do. You really cant. You have to i dont think they should allow, you know, ke they wouldnt let a heterosexual, you know, molest a child in a school situation. I mean, homosexuals or whatever you would call them could have to follow those laws also. So people are understanding, as long as theyre following rules too that, you know, we cant stop people from wanting to do the things they feel comfortable doing. Host anita in income n. Donald is up next from arizona on our line for democrats. Donald, good morning. Caller ok. Host hi, donald. Youre on the washington journal. Caller yes. Host go ahead, donald. Just turn down your tv and go ahead. Caller ok. Good morning. Host just go ahead, donald. We can hear you. Caller ok, yeah, i think that the Supreme Court should take up the issue of gay marriage. And i think they should rule against it. Host why is that, donald . Caller well, because number one and foremost in my mind, the gay activities, they dont ever talk about the dark side of the gay activity. And the activity in my mind, its an act against nature. And foremost and utmost in my mind is not morally, its not religions, but act against nature is gods law, and its also the law of the universe. Host do you know gay couples in arizona . Caller i have known a handful of gays. Theyre all around you. But i think the populace of the United States, in my mind at least, is against the idea of recognizing and making legal gay marriage. Host thats arizona this morning. Were taking your questions and taking your comments this morning. We can take your questions on this issue in our later segment of the washington journal. Were going to have a panel talking about the new Supreme Court term, and we can get into some more of your questions about it. But right now were just asking, should the Supreme Court take up the issue of gay marriage this term . Heres a chart from usa today showing the 19 states where samesex marriage is allowed, and then the states where there are bans on samesex marriage listed as well. The bans would be lifted in some of those states pending appeal. Those states are in blew that chart there. If you want to go to the usa today or several other news sites as well having listings and graphics about this issue around the country, but we just want to get your thoughts this morning. Bar radio is in red rock, oklahoma, on our line for republicans. Barbara, good morning. Caller good morning. Yes, i think they should take it up and deny it because its not natural. Its supposed to be a man and a woman in a real marriage. Good thing they didnt live back in bible days. Theyd be stoned to death. But i am hardly against it. Host all right. Barbara in red rock, oklahoma. The Washington Post story on the history of whats been happening on this issue since the windsor decision, the historic decision about the defense of marriage act. This story noting that same sex couples can marry in 19 states, including maryland and the district of columbia. Judges have ruled in favor of it to some degree in 16 states and three Appeals Courts have found a constitutional right. That story noting that no Appellate Court has upheld a marriage pricks. Only one Federal District judge in louisiana has done so, but more than 30 states and some of the nations biggest corporations have asked the court to settle the issue now. Lets go to our line for independents. Caller i actually got married. I am of the gay, less bee, and bisexual and transgendered community. I got married two days ago. I honestly feel that it would be the best decision to take on the case, because im from georgia, and i had to drive all the way to illinois to get married. I completely feel that that is unfair. My family couldnt be there. Nobody could be there. I dont feel its right. And having them look over this and take on this case would be a tremendous change for us. It really would. Host do you think the court ill decide in favor of gay marriage . Theyre entering their 10th year under chief john roberts. Caller i hope so, but there is a lot of controversy because of e fact that theres things like this and a lot of people dont agree, so i completely understand why there is such a big situation with it. But i am hoping that it goes through and works out great, in our favor, but also has our limitations to where we dont understand or affect anyone else. Host thats tonya calling in from fort campbell, kentucky. Peggy is up next from florida on our line for democrats. Caller good morning. First of all, i want to say that host peggy, i can hear you. You want to say what . Caller first of all, i want to say good morning, and to say that i am against it also. I am a christian, and somehow r another, and they just dont seem to understand that if youre christian and youre against this, they hate you. They dont want us to hate them, but they hate us. So im totally against it because i am a christian and i love all people. You say that to them, they look at you like youre craze. Well, how could you be a christian and be against Something Like this . Its because i fully believe in the bible and the word of god. So thats my statement. Thank you. Host were showing live shots this morning from the Supreme Court. The new term opening today, and well be previewing later in the show some of the many cases that are on the docket, but theres no gay marriage case currently scheduled for the Supreme Court docket, so were asking our viewers this morning, should the Supreme Court take up the issue, and if so, how should they decide it . The history of the gay marriage issue, first legalized in the netherlands in 2001. Gay marriage, gay and less bean marriages have spread to 19 countries and, of course, 9 states, as wee already noted. Before the samesex marriage went on the current winning streak, there was a very long losing streak, according to the story in usa today. He notes that in 1972, the Supreme Court tossed out the first gay marriage lawsuit for want of federal question n. 19 6, the justices held up states rights to ban homosexual sodomy. In 1990s brought progress, but not victory, from hawaii to vermont. If you want to read more on richard wolfs story, that came out on friday. But were asking our viewers, should the Supreme Court take up gay marriage this term . Lets go to North Carolina on our line for democrats. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you . Host im good. Go ahead. Caller yes. Im a person who believe in god , and i love people, and i know that god is love, but i just cannot agree with gay relations, i really cant. There are so many more important issues in the world that we need to address. I can just name a few. But anyway, i think we need to ddress more issues like war, injustice, you know, we have racism. We have so many things that are going on. My thing is we need to address these issues and if people are going to lose to be, you know, woman and woman, man and man in relationships, then let that be their choice, but i dont feel that they should exploit it as much as they are doing, you know, publicly and everything, because it really does affect not only them being satisfied, but it dissatisfies and just shows a lot of, you know, remorse with, say, children and everyone who has to be a part of it. You know, do it discretely, but not publicly the way that they have. Thats my statement. Host what do you mean by exploit publicly, if you can explain a little bit more . Quhipe i mean is that, you know, when as a scomman a the together, which is natural way to be in a relationship, we dont do things as publicly. You know, theres just so many public things that they do that could be done privately. In a relationship. If theyre going to choose to do it, and they accept it and they, you know, they do it together, then do it privately and not just be so exploitive out in the public where everyone can see you do it. Im not saying dont come out, you know, that you need to address your issues, because you can handle your issues better when you address them, acknowledge the fact that you are gay, you know, you want to e a less less bean, whatever, but then just dont be so exploitive, because it affects everyone in the United States. Host can i ask you, can there be a difference between the religious aspect of this that youre talking about and sort of the societal contract aspect of marriage . We have a tweet from ross who says there is a difference between the religious covenant here and the societal contract of marriage. Hat do you think about that . Caller ok, my point, because i in ot to get too indepth lets say religion, because thats a deep thing, as well as, you know, say politically that would be deep, but i would go as to say, you know, there are certain covenants. You need to just stay true to a man and a woman being married. If you choose to do differently, then let that be your individual choice, but then dont take it as far as where theyre going, say taking it to court and everything like that and then wanting to, you know, like the young lady said, she had to go from georgia to kentucky to get married, ok, if thats what you have to do and you really and truly believe this is what you want out of life for whatever the reason is, and i dont know, then do that. But dont, you know, feel like we have to just go all the way to the top and then make it be etched in stone. Host es si freeh kentucky. Were taking your calls and comments for the first 45 minutes this morning, as we also show you some of the live scenes outside the Supreme Court this morning. Well be talking about all the Different Cases the Supreme Court is taking up this term. On the issue of gay marriage and the issues of gay republicans spefbling, heres a headline from the hill newspaper, boehner raising cash for openly gay republican candidates. That story from the hill, noting that john boehner vowed last year that hed back gay g. O. P. Candidates, and now hes making good on his word. The Ohio Republican is headed out to california this week, where hell raise cash for one openly gay candidates. He shot down calls to abandon gay g. O. P. Candidates, arguing the party needed to make better inroads with gays, women and minorities