GAY RIGHTS - After a four year long court battle beginning with the California State Supreme Court’s decision stating that preventing same-sex couples marriage equality denied them their constitutional rights and the subsequent victory of Proposition 8 at the ballot box, the flood gates of same-sex marriage may re-open as soon as next week.
Or not.
Prop 8 has been ruled unconstitutional. Twice.
First by the US District Court in Northern California and then by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Proponents of Prop 8 then asked the US Supreme Court to hear the case.
The highest court in the land begins its term each year on the first Monday in October; in the week before, they begin reviewing the approximately 8,000 cases that get appealed and appear on the Court’s docket at the beginning of each term.
Their largest task is to whittle that number down by 99 percent; the Justices hear and decide only between 70 and 80 cases after a full briefing and oral argument.
Throughout the Term, the Justices meet almost every week in a private conference.
At each conference, they consider more than 130 requests to review judgments of state and federal courts.
When four Justices vote in favor of granting full review of a case, known as granting certiorari, the case is placed on the Court’s oral argument calendar and is decided after full briefing and argument.
Because of the high profile nature of the California same-sex marriage case, also known as the Prop 8 or the Perry case, court watchers expect the case to appear in one of the earlier conferences held.
The first opportunity for the Perry case to be reviewed is September 24.
Observers, however, feel that the California Prop 8 case majority opinion was written in a way designed to short-circuit the US Supreme Court’s acceptance of the case.
If the Court does not take the case, the appellate court’s decision stands – and same-sex couples may resume marrying immediately. (The rest of the WeHo News report … including the status of the Defense of Marriage Act with the Supreme Court … here.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 77
Pub: Sept 25, 2012
