The US Supreme Court again deferred any action on California's Proposition 8 and nine other cases that deal with gay marriage rights, national media reported Monday.
"In an 'orders list' issued early on Monday, the court made no mention of any of the same-sex marriage cases," Reuters reported around 11 a.m. Eastern time.
The cases were initially up for consideration last Friday, Nov. 30, but the court stalled on deciding if any will be added to its agenda for the coming term.
This Friday's meeting will be the justices' final chance to add any appeals of same-sex marriage cases to the docket, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Half of the appeals involve the Defense of Marriage Act. Another is Proposition 8, California's ban on gay marriage.
In 2008, 52 percent of California voters approved Proposition 8. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the law in February, ruling Proposition 8 unconstitutional. Prop. 8 supporters then appealed to the country's highest court.
If the Supreme Court chooses to take no action on Proposition 8 Friday, the lower court's ruling that the sate ballot measure banning same-sex marriage unconstitutional would stand.
Egypt has Sharia law but the secularists are trying to separate religion and government so women can drive and do basic things. I hope in our attempt to get same-sex marriage choice passed, we would not be like the Islamists. Have the hard-liners also thought about all the other "equal protections" that can be unraveled?
Yes, "majority rule" is the general rule of a democracy - but the U.S. isn't a true democracy and we have safeguards in place to protect the rights of all—including the minority. Let's apply it to a different issue. If the majority of people want to take back the right of blacks or women to vote, should the courts sit back and watch or should they say, "Wait a minute, guys, there's a law against that."? I'm no legal scholar, but I think if the people of the country truly want to not apply the 14th amendment, they can do so democratically -- but would have to do it by changing the Constitution...
To make it all equal, rather than change the definition of the word "marriage", the government should get out of the "marriage" business all together. If the government recognized only "civil unions", and only issued licenses for civil unions, it would be equal for all. Folks could still get "married" as recognized by their religious faith, but as far as the government is concerned, it's just a legal civil union. (Yes, "civil unions" would have all the rights as what used to be called a "marriage".)