Virginia takes marriage equality appeal to US Supreme Court

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On Friday, August 8, 2014 the Commonwealth of Virginia asked the United States Supreme Court to review the federal appeals court ruling in Bostic v. Schaefer (docketed as Rainey v. Bostic) that found Virginia’s discriminatory Marriage Amendment unconstitutional.

Virginia’s Marriage Amendment has been ruled unconstitutional twice: first in a U.S. District Court and then by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Defendants’ request for Supreme Court review, known as a petition for a writ of certiorari, is only granted upon an affirmative vote of four Supreme Court Justices.

The next Supreme Court term will begin in late September, 2014. A Supreme Court Term usually runs until late June or early July. Of the approximately 8,000 cases that appear on the Court’s docket each Term, the Justices hear and decide only between 70 and 80 cases after full briefing and oral argument.

(via American Foundation for Equal Rights)