THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURTS RULING TODAY ON GAY MARRIAGE Today, the United States Supreme Court (USSC) denied certiorari (refused to accept the appeal) of those opposed to gay marriage and appealed the Circuit Court of Appeals decision declaring the states ban unconstitutional and legalizing gay marriage in those states covered by that Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. There are 11 states covered by the Circuit. When a Federal Circuit Court of Appeals rules, all states in that Circuit are legally bound by its ruling. The only court higher to overrule a Circuit Court of Appeals is the United States Supreme Court (USSC). Five states in the Circuit had ruled that the state could constitutionally ban gay marriage (Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wisconsin). The gay couples involved appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals and the Circuit had ruled that the states ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, thereby legalizing gay marriage in those 5 states. The states then appealed to the USSC asking the Highest court to accept the cases and reverse the Circuit decision and therefore allow the states to ban gay marriage. The USSC today said no, denied certiorari (said they will not accept the appeal) and therefore left intact the Circuit Court ruling legalizing gay marriage in those 5 states as the final word. By doing so, the USSC also set the stage for legalization of gay marriage in the remaining 6 other states that are also in the the Circuit (Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Todays ruling by the USSC also lessens the chances of the USSC finding that individual states have the right to ban gay marriage. So gay marriage scores a major victory today. Gay marriage is now legal in 30 states and Washington DC. It is pretty certain now that any Federal Court that decides that it is unconstitutional to ban gay marriage will be successful. To date EVERY Circuit Court of Appeals that has decided the issue has decided in favor of gay marriage. You now have the USSC saying DOMA is unconstitutional meaning the federal government may not have a law that says an individual state cannot have gay marriage. Any state that passes gay marriage will be permitted to do so and no federal law can prohibit a state from doing so. And you also have todays ruling saying that the USSC will not hear the appeal of the Circuit Court of Appeals, leaving gay marriage legal in the 5 of the 11 states in the Circuit that passed gay marriage and paving the way for the remaining 6 states in the Circuit to pass gay marriage. Therefore right now, the fed govt will not be permitted to pass any law that prohibits a state from passing gay marriage and if a state passes gay marriage, at least for now, the USSC will not review or hear the case to determine whether the state rightfully or wrongly passed gay marriage. There is still no nationwide rule governing legalization of gay marriage. It is on a state by state or Circuit by Circuit basis. If even one Circuit rules that a ban on gay marriage is ok, and not unconstitutional, then the USSC will have no choice but to grant certiorari and decide the issue once and for all, because then there would be a division or conflict amongst the Circuit Courts and the only higher court to settle the conflict is the USSC. But if all 11 Circuits eventually agree that a state cannot ban gay marriage, then it may be that we will have a nationwide rule without the USSC ruling on the issue. Hope I clarified the issue.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 23:29:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015