Supreme Court Denies Review of Same-Sex Marriage Wins

[Altair]

Unless I'm mistaken, this means the stays disappear on the various Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decisions legalizing same-sex marriage.

In other words, marriage equality will shortly be the law of the land in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin...and also possibly in the other states in the circuits affected: North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming. Which would make a total of 30 states plus DC where same-sex marriages are legal.

This is HUGE.

Supreme Court Clears Way for Gay Marriage in 5 States

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/us/denying-review-justices-clear-way-for-gay-marriage-in-5-states.html?module=Notification&version=BreakingNews®ion=FixedTop&action=Click&contentCollection=BreakingNews&contentID=21187989&pgtype=Homepage&_r=1

High court ruling may lead to gay marriage in 30 states

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/06/supreme-court-gay-marriage/16546959/

[Altair]

High court ruling may lead to gay marriage in 30 states

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/06/supreme-court-gay-marriage/16546959/

Note that USA Today's headline is misleading, since there was no SCOTUS ruling. It's SCOTUS's inaction--their decision *not* to review the cases and therefore ultimately *not* to issue a ruling on same-sex marriage at this time--that is leading to these effects.

[Sage]

Note that USA Today's headline is misleading, since there was no SCOTUS ruling. It's SCOTUS's inaction--their decision *not* to review the cases and therefore ultimately *not* to issue a ruling on same-sex marriage at this time--that is leading to these effects.

 
Virginia will start marrying same-sex couples in less than an hour.

[Altair]

Virginia will start marrying same-sex couples in less than an hour.

Fantabulous!

The Religious Right is going to be *apoplectic*. Brace for tirelessly repeated condemnations of judicial tyranny from an unelected handful, riding roughshod over The Will of the People. Their screeds will be packed with it.

[Altair]

Virginia will start marrying same-sex couples in less than an hour.

And Utah. The Tenth Circuit just lifted its stay on its ruling overturning the marriage ban there.

Utah.

http://[tweet]519159578974752768[/tweet]

Mormon leaders must be in despair; in 6 short years they've gone from being the successful architects of Proposition 8, eliminating same-sex marriage in California, to having same-sex marriage legalized in their own backyard.

[Valeria Crowe]

And Utah. The Tenth Circuit just lifted its stay on its ruling overturning the marriage ban there.

Utah.

http://[tweet]519159578974752768[/tweet]

Mormon leaders must be in despair; in 6 short years they've gone from being the successful architects of Proposition 8, eliminating same-sex marriage in California, to having same-sex marriage legalized in their own backyard.

 
Snicker. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

The church leaders and Elders will be apoplectic. I wonder how many heart attacks the decision will cause?

[MadZealot]

It's SCOTUS's inaction--their decision *not* to review the cases and therefore ultimately *not* to issue a ruling on same-sex marriage at this time--that is leading to these effects.

They know which direction the wind is blowing.  The battle is being fought and won in the state level, so they can sit this one out.  I was listening to some commentary on this on the way home; seems the Supremes would have to hear the case if a district offered up a contrary ruling.  But it doesn't look like that's gonna happen.

[Melamphoros]

Virginia will start marrying same-sex couples in less than an hour.

 
YAY!  I needed some cheering up!  And yay for those other states where SSM is now legal!

Mormon leaders must be in despair; in 6 short years they've gone from being the successful architects of Proposition 8, eliminating same-sex marriage in California, to having same-sex marriage legalized in their own backyard.

 
*grabs some popcorn and gleefully begins singing "Schadenfreude"*

[RandallS]

Unless I'm mistaken, this means the stays disappear on the various Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decisions legalizing same-sex marriage.

That's exactly what it means. The USSC left those decisions intact by not taking any of the cases. This is what I thought would happen. The USSC doesn't want to touch this hot issue at this point.

[Altair]

That's exactly what it means. The USSC left those decisions intact by not taking any of the cases. This is what I thought would happen. The USSC doesn't want to touch this hot issue at this point.

See, I figured that since it only takes the okay of 4 justices for SCOTUS to take a case, the conservatives would make sure one got taken...because they've got to know that stopping nationwide same-sex marriage only gets harder with every passing week. (I was going to say "month," but the ground on this issue keeps shifting too fast for that.)

The fact that they didn't take a case, I think, amounts to a tacit acknowledgment that nationwide SSM is a done deal. Now the conservatives are just keeping their hands clean and letting the process take as long as possible by forcing the battle to be fought state by state.

With SSM essentially in the bag, the conflict shifts to the religious right's rear-guard action: "religious liberty," i.e., the ability of private citizens and businesses to continue to discriminate in the public sphere against LGBT folks. (For example, a bakery that refuses to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.) The religious right has actually gotten some traction with this (see Hobby Lobby), so we queers are going to have to fight hard to make sure we get the same treatment as everybody else.

[sailor]

Figures, something kills my access to about half the sites I normally go to so I can't look up why the ruling went this way.

As others pointed, it generally takes a circuit split to get them to take the case or something obviously wrong with the decisions of the lower courts.

[Altair]

Figures, something kills my access to about half the sites I normally go to so I can't look up why the ruling went this way.

Well, again, there was no ruling. SCOTUS decided not to take any of the cases, and they did so without comment.

I just saw some guy reading the tea leaves on TV, and his take was similar to mine: The court's conservatives would have voted to take one/some/all of the cases if they thought they could get Kennedy to vote with them; so the fact that they didn't vote to do so suggests they know they can't win. The liberals on the court, meanwhile, are content to let the wins accumulate gradually, state by state, without their intervention.

[Flame]

Snicker. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

The church leaders and Elders will be apoplectic. I wonder how many heart attacks the decision will cause?

 
Speaking as one of the 1300 couples that got married in Utah, and as an EXMORMON, I am evilly cackling over here.

[Valeria Crowe]

Speaking as one of the 1300 couples that got married in Utah, and as an EXMORMON, I am evilly cackling over here.

 
Congratulations! I hope you and your wife (?) are very happy.

Happier than the wailing and teeth-gnashing Mormons, anyway.

[Melamphoros]

Speaking as one of the 1300 couples that got married in Utah, and as an EXMORMON, I am evilly cackling over here.

 
Congrats!