Coincidence Or Clue? Did The Supreme Court Hint At A Friday Marriage Ruling In Favor Of Equality?

SCOTUS announced an additional date for the potential ruling of the marriage equality cases. Coincidentally, that date is the same date as two other landmark LGBT equality court wins. Coincidence, or clue?

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is expected to announce their ruling on four combined marriage equality cases by the end of the month. We’re coming down to the wire and SCOTUS still has to release opinions on seven more cases including those on marriage equality, Obamacare, lethal injection, the Fair Housing Act, congressional redistricting, sawed-off shotguns, and EPA regulations on power plant emissions.

For the month of June, the Supreme Court releases opinions every Monday at 10AM; however the court can, and often does, add additional opinion days. Even though the additional days most often fall on Thursdays, Friday the 26th was just added as a potential date. The following statement was just posted to the court’s official website:

The Supreme Court has added non-argument sessions for the announcement of opinions on Thursday, June 25, 2015, and Friday, June 26, 2015, at 10 a.m.

While there is no way of knowing the exact date the court will announce their opinion, it is interesting to note that Lawrence v. Texas and Windsor v. U.S., two monumental LGBT equality cases, were both announced on June 26 (2003 and 2013 respectively). Could it be that the LGBT community will get another win this Friday on June 26? Again, there is no way to predict the dates of the actual rulings, but if that were the case, NYC and SF Pride will have a lot more to celebrate this weekend.

Speculation? Of course!

But regardless of the actual decision date, celebration events are popping up across the country as the historical moment inches closer. The Family Equality Council, Freedom to Marry, GLAAD, Marriage Equality USA, and the National LGBTQ Task Force are coordinating these events through the website www.uniteformarriage.org. Coalition partners include big names such as the Human Rights Campaign, the Log Cabin Republicans, the National Black Justice Coalition, PFLAG, the NOH8 Campaign, and many more. New events are being added often, so if you don’t see one listed for your city, check back soon or create one yourself.

Again, even though additional dates can be added later, the current potential announcement dates are June 25, 26, and 29. Mark your calendars!

 

Image by Rich Renomeron via Flickr and a CC license