Indeed. Because of the narrow ruling in Perry v Brown it's unlikely the Supreme Court will take the case. If that happens gay marriage will resume in California by year's end.
Also of note the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals declared part of DOMA unconstitutional!
I think it will be the case from the east which just found DOMA unconstitutional at the federal level that reaches the Supreme Court. Hasn't it been said that the CA case could be consolidated with the other case for the high court?
Hasn't it been said that the CA case could be consolidated with the other case for the high court?
The Supremes can certainly consolidate cases if they want, and having more than one on analogous issues from more than one circuit court makes it more likely they will consider the topic.
Making it worse is that the ruling on the Cal case came out of the 9th Circuit, the liberal one most frequently overturned.
Given the make-up on the High Court, the best hope is that they do not take either case. It won't settle anything long-term, but it would leave the CA ruling intact. If they do take the case, I wouldn't get my hopes up. Although it does seem like an issue where swing vote Kennedy might surprise.
I'm not trying to rain on the parade. It is just the way it is.
It's highly unlikely they would consolidate the two cases. Even though they have common goals, they are fundamentally different.
The ruling from the 9th was very narrow, basically just a re-affirmation of Romer v Evans (a case which Kennedy authored the majority decision for). It would not be a stretch at all for the Supreme Court to affirm the ruling from the 9th, assuming they choose to even hear it.
The ruling from the 9th was very narrow, basically just a re-affirmation of Romer v Evans (a case which Kennedy authored the majority decision for).
I haven't read a word of case law on the subject, but that would be the biggest ace in the hole to have here. I suspect I know how the non-legal opinions of the the other eight justices would fall.
But that is just knee-jerk speculation. For all I know the conservative four could end up seeing this as a state's rights issue.
reply share
Just thought I'd let everyone know that the Supreme Court will be conferencing on Monday, September 24 to decide which cases to hear and the Prop 8 case will be one of them. The decision of whether or not to hear the case will be announced within one week following the conferance, so by Monday, October 1.
As I said before, I don't think they will take it due to the narrow ruling, the fact that the case doesn't raise any new/significant constitutional questions, and that the lawyers for our side argued strongly as to why it shouldn't be heard.