Sometimes, doing nothing causes a great impact.  That is what happened this week when the SCOTUS issued an order denying certiorari in a batch of same-sex marriage cases.

Legal pundits, this Blog among them, felt sure the High Court would elect to take a look at the Utah case; one of the oldest and simplest percolating through the federal appellate world.  By not granting cert, the federal court rulings that have struck down state laws banning same-sex marriage in Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Utah and Oklahoma stand.

Let the same-sex wedding ceremonies begin.  Now that the SCOTUS will not be hearing any of these cases, the appellate stays are lifted.  We here at the Law Blogger expect that a similar order denying cert in the Michigan case and the other Sixth Circuit cases could be issued by the end of the year.

By using federal appellate math, this means that same-sex marriage will be legal in 30 states.  At this point, probably the only way a case will be accepted by the High Court would be if a federal appellate circuit upholds a state law ban; so far this has not occurred.  Resolving conflicts among our federal appellate circuits is one of the functions of SCOTUS.

We will monitor this situation as the Supreme Court begins the 10th year of the Justice Roberts' Court.

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