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Legal observers and activists eager to hear if the U.S. Supreme Court will be taking up any same-sex marriage cases in its upcoming term will have to wait a few more days. None of the gay rights cases under review were included on the court’s order list released this morning.
However, none of the cases were denied petitions either. Instead, the cases, which include lawsuits against California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, are still under the justices’ review.
The court did not grant hearings to any new cases today; it only asked for arguments in two cases it granted last week. The justices’ next conference is Friday, and the Supreme Court often needs more than one meeting to determine whether it will hear some cases. Americans for Equal Rights, a group that is backing the suit to overturn Proposition 8, says on its website that “there is no doubt the justices have much to consider,” but that the organization “remain[s] optimistic” that the court will take up its case.
There are several possible paths the Supreme Court could take, as outlined last week by BuzzFeed’s Chris Geidner. One option would be for the court to consider all the pending cases, or just a single case related to the Defense of Marriage Act. As for the Proposition 8 case, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in February that the law passed by California voters in 2008 was unconstitutional. If the Supreme Court were to decline the appeal, same-sex couples in California could start marrying almost immediately.
Any decisions made at the Friday conference will likely be announced next Monday, December 10.