September 17, 2014
Private: Want to Know When Marriage Will be Before the Supreme Court? Watch the Sixth Circuit
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, marriage equality, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
It has been apparent for quite some time that the U.S. Supreme Court will decide on marriage equality in the not-so-distant future. Since last year’s historic decisions striking down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and putting an end to California’s Prop. 8, court after court has struck down state marriage bans across the country.
Last month Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the court will not "[duck] the issue" if a marriage equality case comes properly before the court and predicted that would happen by June 2016 at the latest. Last night, Justice Ginsburg was talking marriage equality again. Speaking to an audience in Minnesota, the Associated Press reports Ginsburg said cases pending before the circuit covering Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee would probably play a role in the high court's timing. She said "there will be some urgency" if that appeals court allows same-sex marriage bans to stand. Such a decision would run contrary to a legal trend favoring gay marriage and force the Supreme Court to step in sooner, she predicted.
Now the question is which case or cases will make it to the high court. The Associated Press reports Ginsburg didn't get into the merits of any particular case or any state's gay marriage ban, but she marveled at the "remarkable" shift in public perception of same-sex marriage that she attributes to gays and lesbians being more open about their relationships. Same-sex couples can legally wed in 19 states and the District of Columbia. Bans that have been overturned in some other states continue to make their way through the courts.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled the marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana are both unconstitutional. The ruling came just nine days after arguments in the case were heard.
The day before that ruling, a federal court found a state marriage ban constitutional for the first time since the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of DOMA in U.S. v. Windsor. U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman upheld Louisiana’s marriage ban, saying, “The State of Louisiana has a legitimate interest under a rational basis standard of review for addressing the meaning of marriage through the democratic process.”
LGBT equality has ridden a wave of success since last year’s landmark Supreme Court decisions striking down Section 3 of DOMA and putting an end to California’s Prop. 8. Earlier this summer Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage was invalidated, a judge struck down Kentucky’s marriage ban, Justice Samuel Alito, Jr. rejected a county official's bid to suspend a ruling that overturned Pennsylvania's same-sex marriage ban, in Colorado a District Court judge declared the state’s ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional and the Utah attorney general announced he would appeal a court decision in favor of marriage equality in the state to the U.S. Supreme Court.
It’s time to watch equality march forward.