Supreme Court to Take 6th Circuit Marriage Appeal

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit which upheld the same sex marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee and tried to depict such bans as "a benign, even admirable, initiative by “people of good faith,” endowed with a “Burkean sense of caution,” to validate a “long-existing, widely held social norm” rather than animus inspired acts to permanently denigrate gays and lesbians.  Indeed, under the reasoning of the Sixth Circuit's ruling, slavery and bans on interracial marriage ought to still be valid.  A final ruling should be handed down by late June.  This action comes after the Court refused to take the appeal from the Fourth Circuit last October which had the effect of making gay marriage legal in Virginia and the other states in the Fourth Circuit. SCOTUS Blog has details on the Court's action.  Here are excerpts:

Taking on a historic constitutional challenge with wide cultural impact, the Supreme Court on Friday afternoon agreed to hear four new cases on same-sex marriage.   The Court said it would rule on the power of the states to ban same-sex marriages and to refuse to recognize such marriages performed in another state.  A total of two-and-a-half hours was allocated for the hearings, likely in the April sitting.  A final ruling is expected by early next summer, probably in late June.

The Court fashioned the specific questions it is prepared to answer, but they closely tracked the two core constitutional issues that have led to a lengthy string of lower-court rulings striking down state bans.  As of now, same-sex marriages are allowed in thirty-six states, with bans remaining in the other fourteen but all are under court challenge.

Although the Court said explicitly that it was limiting review to the two basic issues, along the way the Justices may have to consider what constitutional tests they are going to apply to state bans, and what weight to give to policies that states will claim to justify one or the other of the bans.
The Court told the lawyers for same-sex couples to file their written briefs on the merits by February 27, and the lawyers for the states to file by March 27.  Reply briefs by the couples’ lawyers are due on April 17.

The Court is scheduled to hold its final session of oral arguments from April 20 through 29, so the same-sex marriage cases will be scheduled during that time.  The order issued on Friday did not set that date; that will be done later.

The focus of the Court’s review will be a decision issued in early November by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  That decision, breaking ranks with most other courts, upheld bans on marriage or marriage-recognition in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.

While one never knows what the Supreme Court will do, it would seem unlikely for the Court to uphold state bans after allowing same sex marriage to extend to 36 states, with legalization in nearly half of those states coming from the Court's refusal to hear appeals where bans were struck down.  The outlier ruling of the Sixth Circuit has forced toe Supreme Court to have to act.

Locally, it has been amazing to see even formerly very conservative private clubs now accept married same sex couples as members.  The husband and I belong to such club and friends have recently joined a local conservative country club.