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Apple, Facebook, Comcast, and hundreds of others ask Supreme Court for nationwide marriage equality

Apple, Facebook, Comcast, and hundreds of others ask Supreme Court for nationwide marriage equality

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Marriage equality is actually good for business, so these companies claim

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A host of the biggest companies in the world, including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and 374 others have banded together to file an amicus brief in the US Supreme Court stating that all couples should share the right to marry. The brief, which was filed today by law firm Morgan Lewis, actually makes a business case for legalizing same-sex marriage across the country. It claims that the currently muddled and confusing legal landscape surrounding same-sex marriage "places significant burdens on employers and their employees — making it increasingly hard to conduct business."

The brief argues that the varying state laws around marriage equality makes it harder and more costly for companies to attract and recruit top talent and administer benefits to employees who aren't allowed to marry, among other issues. It's not just huge tech companies coming out in support here, either — the businesses range from smaller, family-owned businesses all the way up to giants like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Comcast, Levi's, Nike, Proctor & Gamble, Wells Fargo, United Airlines, and dozens more.

The amicus brief was filed in the Supreme Court case of Obergefell v. Hodges, one of several cases that it will hear in April surrounding the marriage equality issue. The Supreme Court's ruling is expected to decide whether the Constitution protects the rights of same-sex couples to marry regardless of what state they live in, or whether specific states are allowed to continue forbidding gay marriage. Currently, 36 states and Washington, DC allow same-sex marriage; some estimates state that as much as 70 percent of the country lives in an area where same-sex marriage is allowed.

Some of the most notable technology companies who signed the brief include: Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Cablevision, Cisco, Cloudflare, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, Dropbox, eBay, EA, Facebook, Google, Groupon, HP, Intel, Intuit, Microsoft, Orbitz, Pandora, Qualcomm, Twitter, Verizon, and Zynga. The full list of supporting companies can be found in the brief here.