The Supreme Court’s Next Gay Marriage Ruling Will Come Sooner Than You Think

[DonViejo]

By Mark Joseph Stern

On Wednesday, Utah’s attorney general announced that he would forgo an en banc review of his state’s mortally wounded and comically indefensible gay marriage ban, instead appealing the case directly to the Supreme Court. His last-minute maneuvering means that the high court is quite likely to hear the case next term—and have an opportunity to strike down every state marriage ban in the country.

All this talk about “en banc reviews” might sound too arcane and tedious to befit such a major development. But really, this is a simple and savvy move on Utah’s part, at once a convenient shortcut and a bit of a Hail Mary pass. Utah’s marriage ban is already on the thinnest of legal ice: Last month, a three-judge panel on the 10th Circuit affirmed a lower-court ruling striking down the state’s marriage ban as a violation of the 14th Amendment. Because that panel represented only a fraction of the 10th Circuit as a whole, Utah has the right to appeal the ruling to all the judges of the circuit. (The judges can, of course, turn down an en banc request.)

But such an appeal would surely take months—months during which several more states and circuit courts are certain to strike down more marriage laws, making Utah’s argument seem even more archaic. (In fact, shortly after Utah announced its decision to forgo en banc review, its next-door neighbor Colorado saw its own gay marriage ban fall.) The appeal would also constitute a total waste of time, since everybody knows this issue must ultimately be resolved by the Supreme Court. So instead of wasting time, money, and paperwork on a half-measure, the state is taking its case directly to the justices’ doorsteps.

In an ideal world, Utah’s conservative governor and attorney general would simply give up on their state’s marriage ban, as did Pennsylvania’s Republican governor. But failing that, they’ve landed on the second-best option—let this absurd piece of codified bigotry die a speedy death. At this late date, it’s hard to believe that anyone in Utah actually thinks the state’s marriage ban can survive the Supreme Court’s review. Those few remaining holdouts, however, had better brace themselves: The state just brought its own law straight to the executioner’s door.

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http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/07/10/the_supreme_court_will_rule_on_gay_marriage_again_soon.html?

[LonePirate]

1. I wonder if the SCOTUS will refuse to hear the case.

That would uphold the current decision tossing the ban and pretty much all of the other bans.

[DonViejo]

2. That might be a little too passive an action for the likes of....

Roberts, Alito, Uncle Thomas and, most especially, Scalia. That last Justice can author some of the most hateful decisions about the LGBT community

[longship]

3. However, Alito refused to take the PA case, just yesterday.

So the PA anti-LBGT marriage law is dead.

Seems like Alito would not be agreeing with Scalia on this issue.

[DonViejo]

4. Really? Have a link to an article about that?...

Who appealed it?

In Pennsylvania, Marriage Equality Is Here to Stay

May 21, 2014

More good news out of Pennsylvania, which just saw its gay marriage ban overturned by Rick Santorum-endorsed U.S. District Judge John E. Jones: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has declined to appeal the ruling, opining that:

The case is extremely unlikely to succeed on appeal. Therefore, after review of the opinion and on the advice of my commonwealth legal team, I have decided not to appeal.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/05/21/pennsylvania_governor_declines_to_defend_marriage_ban.html

[longship]

5. It was a county clerk who appealed to Alito,...

who is the Supreme for that district, to intervene. He said, "no."

Posted here yesterday a couple of times.

Here's a link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=842823

[DonViejo]

6. Thanks...

Damn, I don't know how I missed that. Thanks again. I still can't envision the Supremes not saying anything but, it's very possible.

[SM Kovalinsky]

13. This is another factor....

Right, Alito and Kennedy both might side with the liberals and not Scalia et al.

[longship]

14. That's what I am thinking, too.

Gay marriage bans are deader than a Perdue chicken.

It is inevitable.

[AlinPA]

7. Just wait and see: this SC will outlaw gay marriage and civil unions. Dirty bigots, 5-4.

[COLGATE4]

8. I'm with you. They're not going to be able

to resist the urge to whack all of those "deviants".

[davidpdx]

9. If SCOTUS does do that

they will lose what little credibility they have left.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. That would imply that they have some left

right?


(closely held) companies now have "religious rights"?

[davidpdx]

11. I know..I know

I walked right into that one.

[SM Kovalinsky]

12. That would assume Justice Kennedy will side with the conservatives

Just curious, how do you see this happening in light of his Windsor ruling?

[AlinPA]

16. They have not met on it yet, and the 5-4 right wing vote remains.

[SM Kovalinsky]

17. Yes, but...

Kennedy on Windsor vote with the liberals. Why would he change this now?

[AlinPA]

18. While there is no question that he has demonstrated his protection for gay people and voted

with the liberals on that case, this decision in the fall is big for the GOP. "Too big to fail" for the Republicans might be a way to put it.

[longship]

15. Well, Alito has already sided with gay marriage.

Just the other day.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014842823

So I disagree with your opinion.