Supreme Court Denies Pending Same-Sex Marriage Cases

Today the United States Supreme Court denied review in all five pending same-sex marriage cases.  This move proved to be a major surprise, suggesting the justices are not going to intervene in the wave of decisions in favor of same-sex marriage at least until a federal appeals court upholds a state ban. 

The move will almost immediately increase the number of states allowing same-sex marriage from 19 to 24, along with the District of Columbia. 

In December 2012, the justices agreed to hear a constitutional challenge to a same-sex marriage ban, California’s Proposition 8.  However, a majority of the justices said it was not properly before the court.  This indicated that the Supreme Court might have wanted to stay out of the tussle until the number of states allowing same-sex marriage was much higher. 

See Adam Liptak, Supreme Court Clears Way for Gay Marriage in 5 States, The New York Times, Oct. 6, 2014.