Obama Admin. Set to Urge Supreme Court to Overturn California's Gay Marriage Ban

AP

For the second time in the space of a week, the Obama administration is expected to call on the Supreme Court to weigh in favor of same-sex marriage.

The administration will file a friend-of-the-court brief Thursday urging justices to overturn California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state, NBC News and the New York Times reported.

The Justice Department brief will argue that California voters were not entitled to vote to ban same-sex marriage, an administration official told the Times.

When Obama came out in favor of same-sex marriage last year, he said he didn't think it was a matter for the federal government to decide.

The administration filed a brief in a same-sex marriage case last week, in which it argued that part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 defining marriage as the union of a man and woman for the purpose of federal benefits was unconstitutional.

The court is slated to hear oral arguments on Proposition 8 in late March.

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