The U.S. Supreme Court will have the opportunity to accept one or more same-sex marriage cases at the end of this month — will they?
During its first meeting since June, the U.S. Supreme Court on September 29 will have before it the opportunity to choose from among five different same-sex marriage cases to grant certiorari — to hear oral arguments.
Same-sex marriage has become the most hotly controversial issue watchers expect the nation’s highest court to address in the upcoming session. Should justices pass on all seven, they will still have time to grant certiorari to those or other cases during the year and render judgment before the end of the 2014-2015 term.
Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently stated she fully expects the Court will hear at least one same-sex marriage car and render a decision before 2016, although possibly in 2015.
Freedom To Marry notes the five cases are Baskin v. Bogan (Indiana), Wolf v. Walker (Wisconsin), Bostic v. Schaeffer (Virginia), Bishop v. Smith (Oklahoma), Kitchen v. Herbert (Utah).Â
After the September 29 conference, the Court will announce which cases it has granted certiorari, meaning it has agreed to hear oral arguments and likely offer judgment. If the Court makes no mention of the marriage cases after the conference, the cases will likely be relisted for consideration at a future conference. The subsequent conferences this fall will be held on October 10, October 17, October 31, November 7, November 14, November 25, December 5, and December 12.Â
The Wall Street Journal adds that the “justices use the September meeting to wade through stacks of appeals that pile up during the court’s three-month recess.”
The court at some point after the conference is expected to add several of those cases to its docket for the term that begins Oct. 6. Court watchers are eagerly awaiting word on whether one or more gay marriages cases will be among them.
The court is under no obligation to act right away. It’s possible the court could take additional time to mull its options, particularly because of fast-moving developments in other gay-marriage litigation.
“Thirty-one states continue to prohibit gays and lesbians from marrying, including all the states with cases pending before the Supreme Court. The justices are widely expected to rule this term on whether such bans are constitutional,” USA Today reports.
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