Justices poised to tackle constitutional right of same-sex marriage

The one-sentence order from the U.S. Supreme Court was brief but emphatic. The year was 1972 and the justices were asked to decide something extraordinary in that era: whether an openly gay couple from Minnesota had a "fundamental right" under the Constitution to legally wed.
In just 13 words, the court under Chief Justice Warren Burger dismissed the Baker v. Nelson petition, "for want of a substantial federal question."
For about four decades that was the final word on the issue, at least legally. Now a generational shift...