There’s a lot going on around the US Supreme Court’s decision to take five marriage equality cases from the Sixth Circuit. Here’s a wrap-up of the current news and analysis
USA: The hearing will be held in April. full story
USA: The ACLU looks at where we’re at and how we got here. full story
USA: Time Magazine looks at the court’s options in the case. full story
USA: Lambda Legal asks “what happens if we lose?” full story
USA: New Now Next profiles the couples in the four cases. full story
USA: Just like the last time, it probably all comes down to Justice Kennedy. full story
USA: Not so fast, says the New Republic – Chief Justice Roberts may have a role to play too. full story
USA: Time also looks at the Supreme Court’s own history with the issue. full story
USA: Garrett Epps at The Atlantic looks at the odds. full story
USA: Time recaps what five of the Justices have written or said about marriage equality in the past. full story
USA: Prop 8 attorney David Boies thinks marriage equality will win out at the Court. full story
USA: Attorney General Eric Holder says he will file a brief with the Court in favor of marriage equality. full story
USA: While announcing the Court’s decision to take the cases, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith slammed the “continuing discrimination” by states that are still fighting same-sex marriage full story
USA: Steve Sanders at ScotusBlog looks at the issue of “animus” in the state bans and the upcoming decisions. full story
USA, Michigan: The plaintiffs here say they are in awe that the Court has decided to take up their case. full story
USA, Texas: Neel Lane, attorney the plaintiffs in the Texas marriage equality case, is calling on the three judge panel to issue a ruling even though the Supremes have now taken four marriage equality cases. full story
USA, Alaska: Attorney General Craig Richards said he would suspend his hopeless appeal of the decision striking down the state’s ban while the Supremes consider the issue. full story
The Marriage Equality Cases Before the US Supreme Court
Friday, January 30th, 2015This matters because not all cases are fungible. Some come with better facts, others come with messy complications; some come with sympathetic plaintiffs, others have unfortunate optics. Especially when it comes to appellate review, the record on appeal can even tilt the outcome of the case. Plus, the cases are fun to talk about at nerdy cocktail parties.
Bourke v. Beshear is the Kentucky case and it was one of the earlier (though not the earliest) post-Windsor pro-equality decisions from a federal district court. It is about both the right to have a valid out-of-state marriage recognized in a home state and Kentucky’s own in-state ban. The judge, the Honorable John G. Heyburn, relied heavily on Windsor and found that Kentucky’s marriage laws discriminated against gay persons in violation of the Equal Protection Clause as applied to the states. Using rational basis review — the lowest form of scrutiny that only requires a rational connection between a law and a legitimate government objective — the court said there was no rational reason to treat gays this way. He struck down the anti-recognition law.
Authored By Ari Ezra Waldman – See the Full Story at Towleroad.com
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