The court declined to hear appeals from five states that were challenging lower-court rulings legalizing same-sex marriage. By passing on that debate, the court gave a final legal stamp of approval to marriage equality in five states: Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wisconsin. It also set the stage for legalization in six other states that also fall under the lower courts' jurisdiction: Colorado, Wyoming, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

When all is said and done in those states (which could happen in short order, according to the Associated Press), same-sex marriage will be legal in 30 states and the District of Columbia.