With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to rule on same-sex marriage in June, Professor David S. Cohen laid out key issues in the landmark case in articles published in Rolling Stone and Slate.

In the April 28 Rolling Stone column, Cohen noted that while 37 states have enacted laws recognizing same-sex marriage since 2004, the high court will decide if the U.S. Constitution requires all states to issue marriage licenses to gay couples or to recognize licenses issued by other states.

The lynchpin in the decision, Cohen wrote, is Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has written every major decision in favor of gay rights in the Supreme Court’s history.  Kennedy and Chief Justice John Roberts may both recognize this decision as a legacy issue for the court, Cohen said, adding that the chief justice’s “job is thinking about the court as an institution, and he may not want it to be seen as an embarrassment in the future.”

An April 28 article Cohen co-authored with Temple University Professor Leonore Carpenter in Slate explores a list of underlying values that could affect the justices, such as sex discrimination and an emphasis on liberty over equality.