The Supreme Court on Monday took no
action in regard to several cases related to gay marriage.
The court released its first set of
cases justices have declined to hear, but none of the marriage cases
were included.
Had the court declined to hear an
appeal in Perry v. Hollingsworth, the case challenging
California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, then a lower court's
ruling against the amendment would have been made permanent, and the
marriages of gay and lesbian couples taking place before the
constitutional amendment was narrowly approved by voters in November
2008 could resume within days.
The court has also been asked to review
four cases challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996
law which bans federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages
of gay couples.
Legal analysts have suggested that the
court might not act on any of the marriage cases until several weeks
after the general election, when all of the DOMA cases will be
eligible for consideration by the justices, and could decide to merge
several cases.