The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected calls for a nationwide ruling on same-sex marriage by denying five pending appeals.

The denial lets decisions from three federal appeals courts take effect, legalizing same sex marriage in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin and making appeals likely to follow in Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming, as they share the same appellate court, according to Bloomberg.

Attorneys general from 32 states for and against same-sex marriage had petitioned the court to resolve the issue following a wave of lower court rulings that the U.S. Constitution guarantees same-sex marriage rights.

Advocates thought the Supreme Court was likely to make a nationwide ruling when it invalidated part of a federal law that denied benefits to legally married same-sex partners last year.

In Virginia, after the Court's decision, the attorney general said marriage licenses could be issued to same-sex couples as early as this afternoon. A county clerk in Oklahoma said he'll wait for a formal order from a federal appeals court, according to The Associated Press.

A case is reviewed by the Supreme Court only if at least four of the nine justices vote to hear it, according to Bloomberg. The Court also rejected hearing appeals on the firing of an Ohio science teacher who taught creationism.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley led 15 other attorneys general in filing an amicus brief asking the justices to take up three cases from Oklahoma, Virginia and Utah to overturn the bans in those states. Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. 

"Laws that bar same-sex couples from marrying are discriminatory and unconstitutional. The time has come for this critical issue to be resolved," said Coakley, who is running for governor in the November election.

"Same-sex couples and their families are harmed legally, economically, and socially by being denied access to critical rights ranging from interstate inheritance to guaranteed access to health care benefits to joint filing of tax returns. They also suffer physical and psychological harm as a result of their second-class status."

Coakley was joined by attorneys general from California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington.

Attorneys from 17 other states, led by Colorado Solicitor General Daniel D. Domenico, asked the Court to review two cases and argued that without a decision states defending bans could be liable for expensive legal bills from future lawsuits. Joining Domenico were attorney generals from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

READ MORE: Attorney Generals in 32 States seek Supreme Court ruling on same sex marriage.