have to treat same-sex couples essentially identically to opposite sex couples. the question of whether individual conscience allows you to not participate in same-sex unions in a way that you can t have individual conscious to say i will not participate in racial intermarriage i will not participate in religious intermarriage. that s the question that really is before the court, and it s a tough one. and, jeff, for all the court did say today, there was something not said. a lot of people wondering, a lot of buzz in washington, a lot of talk among conservatives that anthony kennedy was hinting to friends and colleagues he might call it quits and retire, but nothing. dop we read into that? well, yeah. i mean, it s a very big deal. his departure would be enormous. i do put in the caution that there is no law that says supreme court justices have to retire on the last day of the term. sandra day o connor announced
you were just listening to governor mike huckabee there to rally in kentucky for just-released rowan county clerk kim davis who had been in jail since thursday where she was ordered to stay because she would not issue marriage licenses. not only to same-sex couples but to opposite-sex couples. let s head back to nbc s sarah dallof live in grayson, kentucky. sarah? reporter: it was the woman the crowd was waiting for. kim davis a few seconds ago on the stage, emotionally thanking her supporters. she did not comment on the kiss as the lawyer had told us she would not do that. but did take a moment to thank her supporters. her husband indicated to us she was aware of what was going on, the frenzy outside of the detention center but as to the extent she knew, she was very overwhelmed by the extent of thousands of people out here. now, her lawyer took the stand before her and said that she
equality. science we had the hearing in join to allow same-sex couples to file joint tax returns, lou do you think this will go today? it s a slam dunk decision tore the court. the new jersey constitution requires that same-sex couples get the same sex how manies as opposite sex couples. there s over 100 federal laws that deny new jersey same-sex couples benefits. they have to pay taxes that they don t have to and i m very, very confident that the judge very soon, maybe not today but very soon, will say that marriage equality is the law of the land in the state of new jersey. certainly look from maryland, north. pennsylvania and new jersey are glaring exceptions to what is going on in the northeast corridor for marriage equality. when we see governor chris chris tr ti. he vetoed bill.
this follows yesterday s landmark hearing over proposition 8. california s voter approved ban on same-sex marriages. elizabeth pran bring us up to date from washington. reporter: on one hand you have the obama administration s lawyers as well as the plaintiff s attorneys arguing on behalf of the excuse me against the defense of marriage act saying it is unconstitutional. she says that herself, her former couple as well as the gay couples are being denied equal protection under the law. they are arguing the government has no legitimate reason to exclude same-sex marriage couples from the benefits which are received b by opposite sex couples. the justice less take almost two hours today. they are in fact in that hearing now to hear arguments on doma which allows congress to withhold federal benefits such as tax savings, social security payments, even medical leave from married gay couples. the 83-year-old had been married for more than four decade before she lost her long-time partne
we re going to expect to see and perhaps hear today in this landmark case? we will hear the lawyer for proposition 8 address the court first. remember, prop 8 was struck down by two lower courts. they re the ones that have appealed it to the supreme court. defending the law, they agreed with the people suing here that it s unconstitutional. and they will tell the court that it makes sense to make a distinction between same sex and opposite sex couples because only opposite sex couples can produce children and it s in the state s interest to treat them differently. you ll hear from the lawyer in both the united states and the two couples in the if first place say it makes no sense to distinguish the two because allowing same-sex couples to get married would not in any way affect the marriages of opposite sex couples or in any way diminish the quality of traditional marriage. those are the three lawyers we ll hear from today, mike. peter, how long is this going to take this morning?