Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg said Thursday she expects the court to rule on a gay
marriage case possibly as early as next summer.
In an interview the
AP, Ginsburg, 81, said she expects such a case to be heard and
decided by June 2016, or possibly a year earlier.
“I think the court will not do what
they did in the old days when they continually ducked the issue of
miscegenation,” she said of the high court's 1967 ruling striking
down interracial marriage bans.
“If a case is properly before the
court, they will take it,” Ginsburg said.
Ginsburg was in the majority on two
marriage equality cases decided last year. In one case, the court
struck down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),
which led to the federal government's recognition of the legal
marriages of gay couples. The court declined to rule on the merits
of the second case, effectively allowing a lower court's ruling
invalidating California's marriage ban, Proposition 8, to stand.
The DOMA decision set off a flurry of
litigation challenging all 31 of the nation's bans and a race back to
the Supreme Court. So far, two appeals courts have sided with
plaintiffs.