As the Supreme Court showdown on gay marriage nears, the friend-of-the-court briefs just keep coming. Georgia Equality has joined with other LGBT organizations to ask the court to strike down both the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8.
Dubbed the "Red State Brief," the brief comes from 28 organizations advocating for LGBT people in areas of the country, like Georgia, which are unlikely to advance marriage equality without a push from the federal level.
The United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two separate same-sex marriage cases in late March.
Arguments on Proposition 8, California’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, are scheduled to be heard March 26, while arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that forbids the federal government from recognizing same-sex unions, will be heard the following day.
“I’m very hopeful that the court will move us forward in our work to end marriage discrimination, but that’s something we can’t control,” Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom to Marry, told GA Voice.
At issue in the DOMA case is the law’s Section 3, which has been found unconstitutional eight times by federal courts on issues including bankruptcy, public health benefits, estate taxes and immigration.
The United States Supreme Court still has not announced its decision on whether to hear same-sex marriage challenges from any of the six cases before the court.
The court could consider any of five challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that forbids the federal government from recognizing same-sex unions. DOMA has been found unconstitutional in eight previous rulings from lower courts.
Also before the court is a challenge to California's Proposition 8, the voter initiative that ended same-sex marriage in the state. It has also been overturned by lower courts, but remains in force during appeals. Prop 8 is being challenged by attorneys Ted Olsen and David Boies, who famously argued one another in 2000's Bush v. Gore case.
The United States Supreme Court was expected to decide today whether to hear any of several legal challenges involving same-sex marriage, but the court took no action in these cases, the website SCOTUSBlog reports.
The Supreme Court, after taking most of the day to prepare new orders, took no action Friday on the ten same-sex marriage cases now on the docket.
The court could issue a decision on whether to hear the cases as early as Monday, Dec. 3 but multiple media outlets have reported that Dec. 7 is more likely.
Stay tuned for more information.
Proponents of the California ban on same-sex marriage (Proposition 8) have asked the United States Supreme Court to hear the case in what would be the final showdown of the state's same-sex marriage ban.
The case could have far-reaching impact on similar marriage bans across the country.
The new legal challenge comes after both federal District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found Prop 8 violated the U.S. Constitution.
The American Foundation for Equal Rights said today via a media release that if the court decides to hear the case, Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, who successfully argued against the law before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, would once again argue that marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples represent a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution.
Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that ended same-sex marriage in California, is unconstitutional, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 7.
“We consider whether that amendment violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the ruling states. “We conclude that it does.”
The ruling goes on to note that, contrary to the arguments of Proposition 8 defenders, the measure “could not have been enacted to advance California’s interests in childrearing or responsible procreation, for it had no effect on the rights of same-sex couples to raise children or on the procreative practices of other couples.”
Brian Brown, the executive director for the National Organization for Marriage, wasted no time in issuing a call-to-arms to his organization's supporters this afternoon.
Moments after today's landmark ruling made by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, NOM had already sent out a fundraising plea previewing the next round of the ongoing legal battle.
“Moments ago, the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit handed down a sweeping ruling striking down California’s Proposition 8 and — for the first time ever — finding a ‘right’ to same-sex marriage in the United States Constitution!” Brown said in the email.
“A Supreme Court victory would preserve the marriage laws of 44 states, denying same-sex marriage radicals in their campaign to force gay marriage on the entire nation in one fell swoop. But if we lose at the Supreme Court, marriage will be jeopardized not just in California, but in all 50 states,” Brown continued.
Atlantans rally to support court's ruling