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Legal Gay Marriage Coming to 30 States and the District of Columbia

by Sahil Kapur, Talking Points Memo
By refusing to hear related cases, the US Supreme Court brings legal gay marriage to 30 states and the District of Columbia. The move is good news for same-sex couples in Utah, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming. The Supreme Court's decision to stay out of the issue is bad news for gay couples in states like Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee, which may now have to wait longer before they can marry.

The Good—And Bad—News In SCOTUS Refusing To Hear Gay Marriage Cases

By Sahil Kapur, Published October 6, 2014, 11:51 AM EDT

The Supreme Court dropped a bombshell on Monday morning by announcing it won't hear any of the same-sex marriage cases before them, which means gay couples can marry without delay in Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Indiana.

After the justices made their move, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, the first appellate court to find a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, quickly lifted the stay on its June ruling legalizing gay marriage in Utah.

The move is also good news for same-sex couples in six other states: North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming. They won't be able to marry just yet, but they can sue for that right, and lower courts in each of those states are bound by the pro-gay-marriage rulings of appeals courts.

That would bring legal gay marriage to 30 states and the District of Columbia. For that reason, the Supreme Court's move is a "victory for marriage equality," said Erwin Chemerinsky, the Dean of UC-Irvine law school.

"Next we'll see LGBT couples asking courts that have ruled in favor of marriage equality to lift the existing stays that prevent them from marrying," said Adam Winkler, a law professor at UCLA law school. "The justices are happy to allow this issue to percolate in the lower courts until there is a circuit split."

But the Supreme Court's decision to stay out of the issue is bad news for gay couples in states like Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee, which may now have to wait longer before they can marry. Cases are pending before the conservative-leaning 5th and 6th Circuits, which observers see as the likeliest venues for a split that could force Supreme Court action.

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