marcia coyle of the "national law journal" was there and joins us now. marcia, big day at the court. knowing 36 states already declare same-sex marriage legal, what were the petitioners today asking the court to decide? >> base canically they're laying claim to the 14th amendment's guarantee of equal protection and due process of law. they're saying that the court has recognized that there is a fundamental right to marry and under the 14th amendment they've been... they deserve to be part and the participate in that fundamental right. the states that still do ban same-sex marriage, they claim, are excluding them from that fundamental right to marry. it was a packed courtroom judy, and the arguments were fast paced and intense, and i hope anybody who is interested will listen to the full audio and read the transcript. >> woodruff: we'll listen to some of them in a moment. but how did the arguments unfold? >> first argument was on the marriage question whether the 14th amendment requires states the license these marriages. the arguments focus on several key