US Supreme Court Will Consider Five Same-Sex Marriage Cases

On January 9, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court will again meet and debate whether or not to review any same-sex marriage cases. Here are their choices.

On October 6 the U.S. Supreme Court surprised many court watchers by refusing to review any of the seven same-sex marriage cases it had been presented. It was a stunning move, and with it came the end of several stays on same-sex marriage cases. The impact was immediate. Same-sex marriage became legal in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana, and Wisconsin. And by extension, given the Circuit Courts of Appeals affected, many believe North Carolina, West Virginia, South Carolina, Wyoming, Kansas and Colorado should have followed without appeal or delay.

While that didn’t fully pan out as quickly as some assumed, it was an amazing embrace of marriage equality and the concept of equal justice under the law. Currently, same-sex couples can marry in 35 states, and Washington, D.C.

Since then, one federal judge became the first since the court’s DOMA decision to rule against same-sex couples, and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that supported the right of a state to impose a same-sex marriage ban.

Thus, something of a constitutional crisis exists, which is why many expect the Justices to take up at least one same-sex marriage case when the Court meets for its January 9 closed-door conference.

The Court of course can continue to refuse to review any cases at this time, or choose one, or several, or all. But if it does choose to review one or more cases, it’s likely the nation will know for certain the future of same-sex marriage by summer.

Among the cases the Court will be able to choose from is Louisiana’s Robicheaux v. George, the only case of the five that has not been litigated in a Court of Appeals.

The others come from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. Those four cases are all from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which in a 2-1 split ruled that Michigan could ban same-sex marriage.

On the same day, January, 9, the 5th Circuit will also be reviewing the Louisiana case, and cases from Mississippi and Texas.

Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner has a breakdown of the cases.

 

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