Three years and three months have now passed since California voters amended their state constitution with Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriage throughout the state. The first legal challenge began the next day, and others followed — first in state court, then in federal court. Many who have been following the case have assumed, perhaps from the beginning, that the controversy would ultimately reach the Supreme Court. After the ballot measure was struck down this month by the Ninth Circuit Court, a California newspaper, the Orange County Register, asked: “Next stop: the Supreme Court?” Maybe not, or, at least, maybe not for a while.
The Ninth Circuit Court has a system (in some ways peculiar to that court) allowing other judges potentially to second-guess a three-judge panel’s decision like this one, and the system does not really depend upon what the lawyers involved ask. The Court can go en banc on its own, in a limited form, and then it can go en banc once again, in a broader form. It might do so in reaction to a request from some of the lawyers involved, or it might do so on its own without waiting for a request. Either way, it could take a considerable amount of time before there is something final to take to the Supreme Court in Washington.
Those who sponsored Proposition 8, and got it approved with a 52.3 percent majority vote among California voters on November 4, 2008, have said they are studying their options, but they definitely have already committed themselves to challenging the three-judge panel ruling at some higher level. There have been some hints, among some in that camp, that they would rather go on to the Supreme Court now, and bypass further review in the Ninth Circuit.
Click here for gay wedding resources in California.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook. We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
