Court rejects appeal to overturn Prop. 8 ruling, case could head to Supreme Court

[TickTockMan]

A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that it will not review a three-judge panel's decision to overturn California's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage.

After this ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Prop. 8 proponents are expected to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, putting the battle for same-sex marriage on a national stage, reports the Los Angeles Times. The Supreme Court could decide to hear the case as part of its docket next year.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/court-rejects-appeal-overturn-prop-8-ruling-case-171244320.html

 

[refujiunderground]

this is why i don't get why i hear so many people claiming that gay marriage being legalized won't happen in their lifetime or in this decade. IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN VERY SOON.


there's two big things that's going to happen by the middle or end of the decade-the legalization of gay marriage and the decriminalization/legalization of marijuana. why people are acting like the wheels are NOT turning in that direction where they think it's not going to happen? i dunno.

 

[SonOfSlobone]

I don't think very many people believe this case will lead to legalization of gay marriiage, SCOTUS is almost certain to duck that issue. There are narrower grounds this case can be decided on.

 

[G-Lexington]

this is why i don't get why i hear so many people claiming that gay marriage being legalized won't happen in their lifetime or in this decade. IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN VERY SOON.


there's two big things that's going to happen by the middle or end of the decade-the legalization of gay marriage and the decriminalization/legalization of marijuana. why people are acting like the wheels are NOT turning in that direction where they think it's not going to happen? i dunno.

My thought is the closer they get to that, the harder the opponents are going to dig their fingernails into the ground to prevent it from moving in that direction. I think both are an inevitability, but we may need more old hardcore people to die off (and more young people who grow up not giving a damn about either) before they become law.

Lex

 

[refujiunderground]

I don't think very many people believe this case will lead to legalization of gay marriiage, SCOTUS is almost certain to duck that issue. There are narrower grounds this case can be decided on.

there's no way they can duck it since that's what it's pretty much all about. it's basically going to be a whole bunch of cases for the court put together questioning whether it's a constitutional right for gays to get married under the 14th amendment. i think that lawrence v. texas and loving v. virginia is going to determine what happens. i think that the whole gay marriage debate in america will end with this one case and i doubt that the supreme court is going to overturn the lower courts decision and will even add lgbt people in the list for suspect classes since we're prone to be victims of discrimination under the law.

 

[refujiunderground]

My thought is the closer they get to that, the harder the opponents are going to dig their fingernails into the ground to prevent it from moving in that direction. I think both are an inevitability, but we may need more old hardcore people to die off (and more young people who grow up not giving a damn about either) before they become law.
Lex

i think that looking at the history of what has happened in the past such as the civil rights movements playing a part of the rulings that stuck down the jim crow laws which were made against the majority of public opinion and even the state governments where they refused to acknowledge the court's decision, they're probably going to go the same route with gay rights. i'm sure they're aware that the general public can't be trusted determining other people's civil rights so they're going to intervene being that it's beginning to get out of hand. this country is finally going to move forward. if the federal courts disapproved of prop 8, which was a law that was put in place by the general public, and doma, which was put in place by the government, i think that the argument about both laws being unconstitutional have a strong standing in the supreme court.

the only thing that i think we have to worry about is the court's definition of what marriage is. i'm curious to know what they're going to say about that. i think they're going to kill the whole argument that anti-gay marriage supporters make where they talk about how marriage is supposed to be for procreation using examples of straight couples that are unable to reproduce or knowingly chose not to have kids.

 

[oakpope]

refuji : don't mixed up things. The reject on appeal of Prop 8 is based of privation of a right that has been given. In other words : CA gave the right to marry to gay, but Prop 8 abolished this right. It is ruled that Prop 8 is unconstitutional because it removes a civil right that preexisted with no reason beyond being a minority. So SCOTUS ruling on that has an application only in CA. For me the main battle is the appeal result of the 1st circuit concerning DOMA. If SCOTUS ruled against DOMA, all federal rights concerning married people will have to be granted to gay married couples too, no matter where they live in the US currently. That's fundamental in my opinion.

 

[SuprSonic]

Whether or not a SCOTUS ruling on the Prop 8 case would have any effect outside of California depends on how broad they want to make their ruling. Walker's original ruling was much more broad that the 9th circuit's. It's entirely possible that the SCOTUS could rule that denying same-sex couples the right to wed at all violates the 14th amendment, although I wouldn't say that this is the most likely scenario.

 

[gaystorm]

I wish they woukd hurry up because the judges will have to see it as a case of church and state. Also, the minority issue.

 

[frankfrank]

I also wish they would hurry up, before one of the favorable Justices retires/leaves, as that Justice will certainly be replaced with one which MUST pass a litmus test of being virulently anti-gay.

 

[Kulindahr]

I don't think very many people believe this case will lead to legalization of gay marriiage, SCOTUS is almost certain to duck that issue. There are narrower grounds this case can be decided on.

refuji : don't mixed up things. The reject on appeal of Prop 8 is based of privation of a right that has been given. In other words : CA gave the right to marry to gay, but Prop 8 abolished this right. It is ruled that Prop 8 is unconstitutional because it removes a civil right that preexisted with no reason beyond being a minority. So SCOTUS ruling on that has an application only in CA. For me the main battle is the appeal result of the 1st circuit concerning DOMA. If SCOTUS ruled against DOMA, all federal rights concerning married people will have to be granted to gay married couples too, no matter where they live in the US currently. That's fundamental in my opinion.

Yes -- this will almost certainly be decided narrowly, if SCOTUS even takes the case. My feeling is that SCOTUS will rule that once a state has acknowledged same-sex marriage as a right, the state can't undo it. That will be excellent news for gays in states where it has been made legal -- and the death knell for the bigots, because once they 'lost' a state, it would stay lost.

But I have a nagging suspicion that SCOTUS isn't going to touch it.

 

[Kulindahr]

I wish they woukd hurry up because the judges will have to see it as a case of church and state. Also, the minority issue.

The justices only have to see what they choose to. They could take this as a church and state issue, but they are far more likely to be no more broad than the decision that comes to them.

 

[Ninja108]

The broader issues certainly won't be touch. IMO,it will be that once a right is granted,people can't simply vote to take it away because of moral objections.