Is the Supreme Court Going to Take the Cowardly Way Out on Marriage Equality?

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/supreme-court-going-take-cowardly-way-out-marriage-equality



Is same-sex marriage poised to be reborn in California? That’s the impression left after the Supreme Court’s hearing Tuesday, where Justices split along predictable ideological lines and the usual swing vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy, suggested that it was a mistake for the court to take up the California case—let alone produce a history-making ruling.

As a result, given the case’s convoluted history, some astute court watchers are saying the Justices may find a way to back off making any decision. That result would leave in place a lower court ruling that invalidated California’s Prop. 8, the anti-same-sex marriage law. Thus, following that tortuous legal path, in California, gay marriage would resume.

The “way out was directly suggested by Kennedy, and pursued by him in more than a fleeting way: dismiss this case as one that should not have been accepted,” wrote Lyle Denniston of SCOTUS blog, who has covered the Court for more than 50 years. “Should that be the outcome, it would be a huge let-down for political, legal and cultural warriors on both sides of the gay marriage issue, but would have the effect of leaving the issue to be worked out in state legislative halls and at the ballot box, one state at a time, at least for the time being.”

The Prop. 8 case is one of two same-sex marriage cases to come before the Court this week. The second, to be heard Wednesday, concerns whether the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional because same-sex partners of federal employees aren’t treated equally under the law as heterosexual spouses. The California case is seen as raising more fundamental equality issues, because it involves marriage as a state-sanctioned institution, not just how a federal law works.

[leftyohiolib]

1. the plaintiff has to have standing which they dont