(MCT) — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Thursday declared that gay marriage can be a right that deserves constitutional protection, supercharging a Supreme Court battle that started with California voters and is now shooting for the history books.

Shedding its earlier caution, the administration forcefully asserted in a key legal brief that the Constitution’s equal protection guarantees extend to same-sex couples seeking a California marriage license. The declaration was both voluntary, because the administration wasn’t required to take a position on the state’s Proposition 8, and emphatic.