Supreme Court to Hear Gay Marriage Cases

Prop 8 plaintiffs Kris Perry & Sandy Stier.

Photo from the American Foundation for Equal Rights

 

After weeks of silence on the matter the U.S. Supreme Court has finally announced that it will take up two cases concerning same-sex marriage: Windsor v. United States and Hollingsworth v. Perry. Both cases are very significant, as Windsor is a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act which limits federal marriage benefits to heterosexual married couples, while Perry--a challenge to the California state constitution's ban on same-sex marriage--may have nationwide implications for same-sex marriage. Arguments will begin in March of 2013 while a decision is expected in late June.

The Supreme Court Review Conference

On Saturday October 27, Professor Jennifer Levi will speak at the law school about federal marriage discrimination. Her presentation is part of the 17th Annual Supreme Court Review Conference which will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Moot Court Room. The topics to be discussed during the Conference include federal marriage discrimination, the Affordable Care Act, GPS tracking, affirmative action, and Arizona's "show your papers" immigration law. The faculty presenters will be Professors Harpaz, Leavens, Levi, Miller, and Wolf. Professor Levi will be the first speaker and will begin the Conference by talking about the federal marriage discrimination cases that the Supreme Court may consider during the current Term.

9th Circuit extends Judge Walker's stay on CA same-sex marriages

• Check out this blogger article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

• NPR had a brief, but interesting perspective on the radio this morning from Erwin Chemerinsky, Professor of Law at the University of California at Irvine. (Students may recognize his name if you carried around the giant and very helpful Constitutional Law supplement that he authored.) Professor Chemerinsky stated in his sound bite that the 9th circuit most likely made the decision to extend the expiration date of the stay so that the matter would not go to the Supreme Court.

• Professor Chemerinsky also wrote a very interesting article earlier this week for the LA Times about the appeal process of the Prop 8 decision. He writes that the Supreme Court could find that opponents of same-sex marriage have no legal standing to appeal the decision made by Judge Walker. Read the whole article here.