Same-Sex Marriage Update

[MsTinkerbelly]

UPDATE 1: From the ruling, p. 80, footnote 27:
“The stay pending appeal issued by this court on August 16, 2010 remains in effect pending issuance of the mandate.”
UPDATE 2: The National Center for Lesbian Rights’s senior attorney, Chris Stoll, shares his thoughts with us on the next steps of the trial:
The stay is still in effect. Footnote 27 the opinion says that the previously issued stay remains in effect pending issuance of the mandate. Mandate issues 7 days after the deadline for filing a petition for rehearing expires, or 7 days after petition for rehearing is denied, whichever is later. I expect that the proponents will ask for a further stay from 9th Circuit, and if that is not granted, they will ask the Supreme Court.
It usually takes months for the en banc reconsideration to be completed. If a party asks for en banc review, the request is sent to all of the 20-something active judges on the court. Memos are often exchanged between the judges before a vote takes place on whether to take the case en banc. If they take it, names are drawn for the panel and a whole new series of briefs are usually filed, which takes a few more months. Then they hold oral argument and issue a decision. It is really almost like starting the whole appeal all over again.
The losing party has up to 90 days to ask the Supreme Court to take the case. It then usually takes a couple of months at least for the Supreme Court to decide whether to take a case. The party opposing Supreme Court review gets to file a brief saying why the Supreme Court should not take the case, and amicus briefs can be filed on both sides as well. Also, the Court does not do any business from the end of June to September. If all that briefing is not completed before the Court’s summer recess begins, then it will not even consider whether to take the case until it comes back in September

[MsTinkerbelly]

UPDATE 5: From the AP’s coverage of the decision:
The court crafted a narrow decision that applies only to California, even though the court has jurisdiction in nine western states. California is the only one of those states where the ability for gays to marry was granted then rescinded.
“Whether under the Constitution same-sex couples may ever be denied the right to marry, a right that has long been enjoyed by opposite-sex couples, is an important and highly controversial question,” the court said. “We need not and do not answer the broader question in this case.
UPDATE 6: As Adam points out, the money line from the ruling:
“By using their initiative power to target a minority group and withdraw a right that it possessed, without a legitimate reason for doing so, the people of California violated the Equal Protection Clause [of the federal Constitution]. We hold Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional on this ground

[MsTinkerbelly]

In my opinion, The Supreme Court and the 9th Circut full court will probably decide not to hear the case since this is a decision limited only to California and the unconstitutional taking away of a previous right; and then marriage in California would be available to same-sex couples once again.

Okay...in my dreams!

BTW... I follow this case because I want everyone to have full equality under the law, in that they can protect their families with the same protections hetro couples receive; but in my case, I believe that also pertains to polyamourous families and "other" types of families wanting to protect their units with legal federal protections. I know that in the United States that day may never come, but isn't that the ideal we should all work to achieve?

[StrongButch]

I am in Washington Anybody wanna get married (lol) Washington is a great state to live in very liberal Many ride there bicycles all year and recycle Im proud to say I live here