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Quick update on Prop 8 case
October 9, 2012
By Scottie Thomaston
On Friday, the Supreme Court held another conference to determine which cases it would take up this term. Since the Prop 8 case is still outstanding, along with Windsor v. USA – a DOMA case – and Brewer v. Diaz, a case related to domestic partner benefits in Arizona, the Court could have considered those cases at its conference. Normally, the Court releases a list of orders from its conference the following Monday. Yesterday, though, was a federal holiday. The order list is out today, and no action has been taken on any of the gay rights cases.
The next conference is on October 12, and the dockets remain unchanged, still reflecting the cases were ready for the September 24 conference.
The next list of new “distributed” cases that are ready to be taken up at the next conference will be released tomorrow. The list tomorrow will reflect cases that are ready for distribution at the October 26 conference.
Right now the Prop 8 case as well as all the DOMA cases except three with responses due next week (two in Pedersen, one in Windsor) are ready for a conference to decide if the Supreme Court will take them up. Of course, responses are not mandatory, but it can be reasonably assumed that there will be responses filed. It seems more and more likely that the Court is simply waiting for all the DOMA cases to be ready before it takes any action on those or on Prop 8. We could see the cases taken up at the November 9 or November 20 conference.
h/t Kathleen for some of this information
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15 Comments Leave a Comment
1.
Lymis | October 9, 2012 at 10:06 am
Personally, I hope this is the way it works out. While I'm not a fan of any delays, I'd far rather that these cases and our rights not turn into an October surprise to be used against the Democrats in this election.
2.
Straight Dave | October 9, 2012 at 10:31 am
Need help from you legal geeks.
I really thought I understood this stuff. But in today's SCOTUS orders is the following. How can they accept amicus briefs for a case where they also deny cert? It sounds like they are saying we're not gonna hear this case but go ahead and file your briefs anyway, which we'll cheerfully ignore. What am I missing?
11-1428 CHEVRON CORPORATION V. NARANJO, HUGO G., ET AL.
The motion of National Association of Manufacturers for
leave to file a brief as amicus curiae is granted. The motion of Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae is granted. The motion of Halliburton Co. for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae is granted. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
3.
W. Kevin Vicklund | October 9, 2012 at 10:51 am
This is pretty standard. Motions for leave to file amicus curiae briefs are typically filed at the same time that the briefs themselves are filed. Because leave to file briefs were granted, those briefs were considered in the decision to deny cert.
4.
Kathleen | October 9, 2012 at 10:52 am
If you look at the docket: http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=…
you'll see that the motions for leave to file the briefs were filed back in June. This may have been required because both parties hadn't consented to the filing of amicus briefs. I see the petitioner's consent on the docket, but not that of the respondent.
Chances are the the briefs themselves were submitted along with the motions, but couldn't be placed on the docket until the motion to file had been formally granted. While the Court ultimately denied cert, I'm guessing it considered the amicus briefs along with the parties' briefs as part of its deliberation so had to issue an order granting permission to file them.
5.
Straight Ally #3008 | October 9, 2012 at 12:50 pm
*singing*
An-ti-ci-pation…. an-ti-ci-pa-a-tion….
6.
Bob | October 9, 2012 at 2:47 pm
waiting and watching!!!!! from Canada
7.
Ray in MA | October 9, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Yikes! What happens to all the Doma/Fed Cout cases if Romeny gets elected?
Will the policy for DOJ to NOT defend DOMA be changed?
8.
Elizabeth | October 9, 2012 at 4:36 pm
*sigh*. ill just be over here sitting and waiting until i am deemed worthy of being paid attention to long enough to get my civil rights. wake me when its over
9.
devon | October 9, 2012 at 5:28 pm
That's my concern as well. Romney has promised repeatedly to defend DOMA.
Perhaps the matter gets bounced to the next court session to allow the new DOJ position.
10.
SHOES THROWER | October 9, 2012 at 6:11 pm
Thanks for the update. Both the people in general and the lower courts need the Supreme Court's guidance on this issue.
11.
WeTheSheeple | October 9, 2012 at 6:41 pm
In other words, they're playing politics and waiting until after the election.
12.
Chris | October 9, 2012 at 6:47 pm
Disappointing, but hopefully we get information as to whether the case(s) will be heard in November after the elections. It'd just be nice to hear about a time table… how long can the supreme court wait to give word on whether they will take a case or not…
13.
Lesbians Love Boies | October 10, 2012 at 11:16 am
Another reason to make sure everyone you know gets out and votes!
14.
W. Kevin Vicklund | October 11, 2012 at 6:02 pm
The last of the reply briefs in the various DOMA cases are due Oct 19 (if GLAD is accurate). This means that the SSM cases might be ready to be heard at the Oct 26 conference, or at least should be listed for distribution following the Oct 29 orders (presumably for the Nov 2 conference). So we're two to three weeks away from any news on DOMA, and almost certainly Prop 8 and Diaz v. Brewer will be re-distributed for the same conference.
So there's still two realistic chances that we'll know before the elections what SCOTUS plans to do about Prop 8.
15.
lazerhaze | October 18, 2012 at 9:24 am
I think it's an injustice to prolong this process as long as it's been prolonged. Just freaking decide already so we can go about the business of our lives and we'll know whether we are truly second class citizens or not and act accordingly.
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