What comes after the the 6th Circuit overturns the case

Last week the Judges in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Cincinnati, overruled Judge Heyburn’s rulings in Bourke v. Beshear and Love v. Beshear.

The Bourke case was about the state treating all married couple whom where married in other jurisdictions the same rights, regardless of whether they were same-sex married couples or opposite-sex married couples.

The Love case was about allowing same-sex couples to be married in Kentucky. Prior the 6th Circuit’s ruling, Judge Heyburn ruled that the State of Kentucky had to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside of Kentucky and had to allow same-sex marriages to be performed in Kentucky.

As this point, every other Circuit Court of Appeals in the United States has ruled to allow laws banning same-sex marriage. Last month the Supreme Court decided not to hear other cases about same-sex marriage, most likely due in part to the fact that all the courts had been ruling the same way, so there was no split in the courts, which the Supreme Court would almost have to address.

Now that the Sixth Circuit has decided to allow the same-sex marriage bans in Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan and Ohio to continue, it is much more likely that the Supreme Court will hear one of these cases, maybe this term (which runs through June of 2015).

The attorneys on the case, Shannon Fauver and Dawn Elliot  (of Fauver Law Office) and Joe Dunham, Laura Landenwich and Dan Canon (of Clay Walton Daniels and Adams) are working away this week in order to file a cert petition for the Supreme Court to hear the Kentucky cases of Bourke v Beshear and Love v. Beshear. The attorneys handling the cases in Ohio, Tennessee and Ohio are also working on petitions for the Supreme Court.