Upholding a long standing tradition, the Supreme Court has not included a same sex marriage case on the court’s list of new cases that was issued last week leading to further delay of important insurance questions.
Related cases were also missing from the additional orders released Monday morning.
Although the move may have surprised advocates on both sides of the divide who have been calling for the high court to review a same-sex marriage case in the court’s new term in order to add more legal clarity to the contentious issue, the decision isn’t as surprising for some legal experts.
The decision to not review the issue of same-sex marriage is attributable to the Supreme Court precedent to look for cases as it sees as the ‘best vehicle’ to decide the issue, an elusive standard whose requirements include strong, clear arguments to appear on both sides of a particular case.
According to National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg, this matter may soon come to the forefront of Court’s agenda.
"Right now, the only cases pending before the court are lower court decisions favoring the right of same-sex couples to marry,” explained Totenberg. “But a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel, which heard arguments last August in Ohio, sounded as if it might go the other way. If it does, that would provide the kind of traditional conflict the Supreme Court looks to resolve."
Three federal appeals courts have struck down same-sex marriage bans in five states over the past 15 months.
The Supreme Court has received seven petitions challenging these rulings.
In the meantime, the federal appeals court for the fifth circuit will weigh in on same-sex marriage bans in Texas and Louisiana in the next few months, which could deliver a split in circuit court rulings.
As mentioned, the eventual case should have serious ramifications for important insurance questions such as whether homosexual couples can include their partners on health plans.
