Well, remember how everyone was like, “oh, the Supreme Court definitely won’t pass up an opportunity to hear a marriage case this term.” Well, haha, funny thing about that…
This morning the court ruled that, in fact, the marriage petitions currently before them are super-boring and not worthy of their attention. As a result, the lower court rulings can stand, and that means marriage can start right now in five states that you probably did not expect to be the next ones to get marriage: Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
Yes. Really. Marriage. Starting today. As in, go to the clerk’s office and get a license right this very minute.
The 4th Circuit says their mandate will issue at 1 PM & marriages can then begin. What a momentous & joyous day for thousands of Virginians.
— AG Mark Herring (@AGMarkHerring) October 6, 2014
Or actually, you know what — don’t go get your licenses right this very minute. Wait a while. Maybe a few hours. Or a few days. Or a couple of months. Because this ruling is final, done, over, we win, the end. There’s absolutely no rush to do anything. So, instead of flying out the door, take some time to whip up a romantic proposal and go get married when you’re goddamn ready.
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So what happens now? Well, that is the question that the employees of every LGBT nonprofit are nervously asking each other right now as they rush to update their resumes and LinkedIn profiles.
The states that are in the same circuits as those five brand-new marriage states won’t have legal marriage yet. First, they’ll need to wrap up their own pending cases, but it shouldn’t take too long now since there’s a pretty good indication at this point how they should rule. So expect to see marriage in North Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas, Wyoming and beyond. Also, expect to see antigay assholes freaking out like never before, because today they have suffered a loss bigger than they have ever suffered before.
But when do we get a federal ruling? That’s anyone’s guess. Louisiana and Texas have cases percolating up through the Fifth Circuit that might present an interesting enough challenge to the Supreme Court. A ruling there won’t come until sometime after early November, which means it might not even happen in the Supreme Court’s current term. So a final national federal marriage ruling might still be a year away. Wow.
pjm1
The Supremes rulings (or lack thereof) should not be a surprise.
What would be interesting to know (and we never likely will) is what happened
when the Supremes conferenced. My guess is that they had 4 votes to take the appeal
BUT those four (the conservatives) knew that if they brought they case up they would not
get the answer they want (just as in in the Prop 8, Hollingsworth v. Perry).
The Supremes just tipped there hand in a big way as to how the (CURRENT) court would vote,
that is, in favor of marriage equality.
What will be interesting to see next is after the 5th Circuit rules — will the appeal go immediately
to the Supremes or will the appeal stay in the5 Circuit Court (for an “en banc” ruling). There is not
enough space here to talk about the en banc issue and it is a bit premature.
SO, there really HUGE issue becomes, who will be the next Pres of the U.S. as the makeup of the
court will almost certainly change after a new pres is elected. The conservatives best hope is to wait
things out. H. Clinton would be the right choice but she is no shoe in — just look back to 2008.
dvlaries
Please tell me someone was there with a camera in VA to catch Ken Cuccinelli’s facial expression when he got the news. Roll over, and bottoms up, Jerry Falwell.
1EqualityUSA
The Catholic-5 may be waiting for Ruth Bader Ginsberg to be unable to participate. After gutting the Voting Rights Act, Hobby Lobby, and Citizens United, nothing they do is a surprise.
1EqualityUSA
Republicans would love for this problem to be resolved prior to 2016, so that they don’t have to talk about equality during campaigns.
Cam
If the other states in those Federal Circuit districts are eventually forced to abide by the ruling Marriage could hit around 31 states.
Now that legal gay marriages in the country will most likely be in the hundreds of thousands to over a million by the time the Surpremes (With Dianna Ross) take a case the Catholic 5 would be setting up a nightmare if they ruled against.
Atomicrob
This is a progressive ruling allowing the appellate courts freedom in determining local issues. This decision will add 5 more states to the roster of those with marriage equality. Another grand day for civil rights and true equality for additional citizens of this great country.
SteveDenver
Allowing lower court decisions to stand in these states is AWESOME, but it still doesn’t determine federal rights and privileges under law. This includes many federal pensions, Social Security and Military benefits being passed to spouses, immigration-visa-citizenship issues.
Boy am I looking forward to anti-gay marriage freaks going ballistic!
IcarusD
Well, I was surprised. I didn’t think they’d necessarily take any of these cases right away. But rather than flat-out denying cert, I thought they’d continue to hold off making a decision on any of them until there was a conflicting Circuit Court decision.
@pjm1: Interesting theory that they may have had the requisite 4 votes to grant cert but they were afraid the other 5 would not rule the way they wanted. Entirely possible. I think they may have had three (Thomas, Scalia, Alito).
But remember, Roberts ruled against standing in the Prop 8 case and Kennedy ruled against DOMA in the Windsor case. Even if Roberts was afraid of how they other 5 justices might rule, couldn’t he have gotten them to continue to punt — thus keeping the Circuit Court rulings stayed while SCOTUS dithered? (I’m not actually sure how that works. I know it takes 4 to grant cert. I don’t know how to voting works to officially deny cert rather than to hold off on deciding.)
Badger88
@SteveDenver: Huh? U.S. v. Windsor held that same-sex marriages are treated no different than heterosexual marriages for all federal purposes.
DickieJohnson
Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! HEY, in Utah, can a man marry more than just one man???
1EqualityUSA
Polygamy is unlawful for everybody straight or gay, so no inequality exists.
pjm1
@IcarusD: Great points that you make and you may well be correct
on Roberts — he is a the only wild card (i think). I thought it was possible that the Supremes might hold of
on granting/denying cert also — and they can do whatever they want with the petitions, that is, hold
them as long as they want, etc. that is what makes them Supreme.
They could have held the cases and, as you note, kept the stays in place.
But, I think the marriage equality faction has 5 votes so if Cert was not denied then
those 5 votes may have taken one or two of the 7 petitions. So, essentially, the Justices compromised
by not taking any of the cases by denying cert, giving 5 states marriage equality, and holding off on the rest of
the country (for now). The 4 conservatives (and on this I am putting J. Kennedy with the 4 dems,
a la Judge Posner of the 7th Circuit) best hope is to delay a national ruling.
You well may be correct though that a majority of the Court wants to move as slow as it can on this,
including Chief Judge Roberts, so the Court does not get to far ahead of the rest of the country (that is, the South).
Justice Ginsburg alluded to this last month.
There are many permutations of what could happen in the Circuit Courts so to speculate on the possibilities
would be to spill alot of ink. It would not surprise me if one of the Circuits takes up the issue en banc.
Cam
And remember, this isn’t just for those 5 states, but as those decisions all came from the Federal Appellate courts, that hold sway over multiple states, this could effect far more than 5 states. After all is said and done, we could have 30 or 31 states with marriage because of this.
Austin77
@Cam:
35, actually. Decisions in 5 states affect four Circuits; 3 of the remaining – 1, 2, and 3 – all have equal marriage already, so there’s no ruling needed there.
The remaining four cover 19 states, and of those 19, 4 already have equal marriage (all in the 9th Circuit – Washington, Oregon, California, and Hawaii). So, that only leaves 15 states that will lack equal marriage once this set of precedents has filtered down.
Desert Boy
It’s somewhat rare for the Supreme Court to insert themselves in lower court decisions. This appears to be one of the times.
Kieran
Let freedom ring from the
prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside,
Let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every
state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children will be able to join hands and sing in the
words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at
last!”
mezzacanadese
This is wonderful news, and a cause for great celebration!
Sebizzar
I’ve been feeling more depressed than usual, so I needed this awesome news :’D
Goforit
@DickieJohnson: Well I got a good chuckle out of that one. Thanks
gaym50ish
Maybe at this point we should hope that at least one of the lower-court decisions goes the other way. When there is disagreement among the lower courts, then the Supreme Court will take up the case and decide it for the whole country.
1EqualityUSA
gaym50ish, Yes, if Ruth Bader Ginsberg is able to participate. She reads the law without religious views tainting her decisions. The Catholic-5 are politically motivated to have other conservatives appointed to lifetime positions on the bench. The decisions they’ve made recently are shockingly, blatantly coercive. This has me losing faith in this branch.
Billysees
@Kieran:
“Let freedom ring…When we let freedom ring…we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children will be able to join hands and sing…”
Excellent choice of words excerpted from a great speech.
Here’s a religious perspective on what has happened. These verses are ‘eerily’ prophetic —
1. But God chooses what is nonsense in the world to make the wise feel ashamed. God chooses what is weak in the world to make the strong feel ashamed…..1 Cor 1:27
2. God chooses what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something…..1 Cor 1:28
They are already happening in our midst today. Those who ‘know-it-all’ in religion, especially scornful ecclesiastics, are not gonna be happy when it sinks in who is behind it.
brianmovie
Look out world , here we come, ready or not, get used to it. and over it!
1EqualityUSA
We’re here, we’re queer….
DickieJohnson
@Goforit: Thnx! Glad someone caught it, as intended!