via ABCNews
A federal appeals court in California has denied a petition to have Prop 8 -the 2008 California ballot initiative that defines marriage as between a man and a woman – further reviewed by a larger panel of judges, which means the case likely is headed to the Supreme Court of the United States. [...]
Supporters of Prop 8 – opponents of gay marriage – had asked for “en banc” review of the case. This would have meant that the Chief Judge of the circuit along with 10 randomly selected judges would have mooted their colleagues’ decision and started anew. But in a filing today the court said that a majority of judges had voted to deny the petition.
But the court stayed the three judge ruling pending an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Not satisfied with the ruling of 3 judges, Proposition 8 supporters turned to a larger panel of 11 judges which they hoped would overturn the former’s decision.
Obviously things didn’t go the way they wanted, and according to ThinkProgress, only 4 of the circuit’s 27 judges were in favor of rehearing the case. The case will now head to the Supreme Court sometime within the year which I suspect will uphold the lower court’s decision.
On the other hand, the Supreme Court could also decline to hear the case.
