BREAKING: Supreme Court Denies Marriage Appeals From Indiana, Wisconsin, Utah, Oklahoma, and Virginia

UPDATED: The Washington Post makes this interesting note on today's SCOTUS action:

It takes only four votes, however, to grant review of lower court decisions. So that means at least one of those who voted no in Windsor--Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.--were unwilling to force the court to take up the issue now.

Ironically, I was talking with friends at a party yesterday afternoon that one option the Supreme Court might take on gay marriage was to denial all of the current pending appeals since so far there is no split between the rulings of the United States Courts of Appeal that have ruled on the issue (I joked that it would be hysterical to see South Carolina suddenly have gay marriage in light of the 4th Circuit's ruling).  Today, the Court did just that.  The effect is that the rulings striking down gay marriage bans in these seven states will become final and same sex marriages will become legal.  Expect lots of shrieks and moaning from the hate merchants at The Family Foundation in Richmond.  SCOTUS Blog has these details:

This morning the Court issued additional orders from its September 29 Conference.   Most notably, the Court denied review of all seven of the petitions arising from challenges to state bans on same-sex marriage.  This means that the lower-court decisions striking down bans in Indiana, Wisconsin, Utah, Oklahoma, and Virginia should go into effect shortly, clearing the way for same-sex marriages in those states and any other state with similar bans in those circuits.

The Supreme Court had issued the first round of orders from the September 29 Conference last Thursday, adding eleven new cases to its docket for the new Term.  Many people had anticipated that one or more of the same-sex marriage petitions might be on that list, but the Court did not act on any of them at the time.  Last month Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had suggested that the Court might not step into the controversy at this point, because there was no disagreement among the lower courts on that issue.  Today her prediction proved true, with the Court denying review (without any comment) of the seven petitions:  Bogan v. Baskin (Indiana); Walker v. Wolf (Wisconsin); Herbert v. Kitchen (Utah); McQuigg v. Bostic (Virginia); Rainey v. Bostic (Virginia); Schaefer v. Bostic (Virginia); and Smith v. Bishop (Oklahoma).

The Virginian Pilot's initial story on this historic happening reads in part as follows:

The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear appeals of gay-marriage court rulings in Virginia and four other states, opening the way for same-sex marriage in the Old Dominion and a majority of the states.

The decision means that gay marriage will soon be legal in 30 states containing 60 percent of the American population – at least until the high court issues a definitive ruling that applies nationwide.

Those decisions had been on hold until the Supreme Court agreed whether to review them. Today’s refusal to do so by the high court means that same-sex marriages can proceed – not only in Virginia but in North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia.

Needless to say, I am thrilled that my marriage will now be recognized in the state in which I reside!