Still no news from Supreme Court on marriage cases

The Supreme Court hasn’t yet made a decision on the Prop 8, DOMA cases (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

The U.S. Supreme Court made no announcement Monday on taking up lawsuits challenging California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, meaning justices have yet to make a decision and will reconsider the litigation at a future conference.

The four cases challenging DOMA and the Prop 8 case were listed on the docket for the Supreme Court conference on Nov. 30. But the orders list made public on that day as well as the list from Monday made no mention of the cases.

The next opportunity for the Supreme Court to consider whether to take up the litigation is at the upcoming conference on Friday. On its website, the Supreme Court has reschedule the DOMA and Prop 8 cases for that conference.

Many advocates are hoping that the court will decide against taking up the Prop 8 case because that means the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling striking down the measure will be upheld and same-sex marriage will return to California.

In addition to the marriage cases, another LGBT-related cases was docketed for the Nov. 30 conference: Brewer v. Diaz. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s (R) appealed to justices an injunction prohibiting her from enforcing a law that took away domestic partner benefits from state employees. No action was apparently taken on this case either.

UPDATE: The story has been updated to reflect the change on the Supreme Court’s website for consideration of the DOMA and Prop 8 cases at the Friday conference.