Bourke v. Beshear
Headline: Court agrees to decide whether the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriages, granting limited review and scheduling briefs and arguments that affect couples and officials.
Holding: The Court granted limited review to decide whether the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license same-sex marriages and to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages, and set briefing and argument schedules for those questions.
- Supreme Court will decide if states must license same-sex marriages.
- Could require states to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
- Sets briefing and argument deadlines that move the case toward final resolution.
Summary
Background
A set of consolidated cases from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit asks whether the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to allow same-sex couples to marry and to honor same-sex marriages performed in other states. The Supreme Court granted limited review of those two specific questions and combined the cases for consideration.
Reasoning
The core issues the Court will address are whether a state must license a marriage between two people of the same sex, and whether a state must recognize a same-sex marriage that was lawfully performed elsewhere. The Court’s order grants review only on those two questions, allocates ninety minutes for argument on the first question and one hour for the second, and restricts parties to filing briefs on the merits and arguing only the questions presented in their petitions. The order also sets filing deadlines: petitioners’ briefs due February 27, 2015 at 2 p.m.; respondents’ briefs due March 27, 2015 at 2 p.m.; and reply briefs due April 17, 2015 at 2 p.m.
Real world impact
The Court’s decision to hear these questions directly affects same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses and the officials who issue or recognize marriages. Because this order grants review rather than resolving the constitutional questions, the legal status of these marriages remains unsettled until the Court issues a final decision. The scheduled briefing and argument timeline moves the cases toward a definitive ruling on these nationwide constitutional questions.
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