Can Federal judges overturn state amendments banning gay marriage?

I thought only the respective State Superme Court could or the people by voting again to overturn the amendment.Can Federal judges overturn state amendments banning gay marriage?
Marriage is up to the state, how a state defines marriage is their business anything else would be an abuse of powerCan Federal judges overturn state amendments banning gay marriage?
TC: It depends. The Supreme Court overturned a radical state amendment to the Colorado constitution a few years ago because it basically excluded gays from the justice system with zero rational state interest.





See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romer_v._Ev鈥?/a>





If a case goes to the Supreme Court and they find that the government can not rationally discriminate between straight and gay people for the purposes of marriage (most likely arguing under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment), it IS possible that that could invalidate every state's constitutional amendment limiting marriage.





However, with the court as conservative as it is, the gay activism community doesn't want to take a case all the way up just to lose. They're waiting until Obama/etc can appoint more sympathetic justices, and for attitudes towards gays to change.
I'm not 100% positive, but I believe that a federal court can overturn state bans on same-sex marriage if the court decides that banning same-sex marriage violates the equal protection rights stated in the Constitution.





Personally, it could be a great move, but it's also very risky to attempt to legalize same-sex marriage on a federal level. If the case is ruled against, it would probably set back the LGB rights movement :/
You're right.





However, the federal government did not attempt to establish its own definition of marriage; any marriage recognized by a state was recognized by the federal government, even if that marriage was not recognized by one or more other states.





Which is why the federal Supreme Court still hasn't taken a side yet.
I think it would be easier for LGBT people to get married, if it was a federal mandate. This way, it wouldn't matter what the state wants. It should not even be an issue. For people to be ';equal'; it means the exact same rights, not close to the same rights.


Bret
you know honestly ;





qay people qettinq married really shouldn't be a problem , yes it's a sin we all know that , but so is smokinq and the world isn't tryinq they best to make smokinq COMPLETELY illeqal . if a qay person wants to qet married then shiittttt , let them do it . there are WAY more important thinqs out there in the economy to worry about instead of qay people beinq married ; there are wars qoinq on .. and we sit here and worry about qay marriaqe .. come on now .
Federal laws supersede state constitutions in matters where the constitution specifies that the federal government has power.
I thought it was only the Supreme Court ruling.





I'm not too sure.
i think so