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 Of the nine justices, only two - conservatives Clarence Thomas and
Antonin Scalia - dissented from the court's refusal to block gay
weddings from starting in Alabama. Gay marriage is now legal in 37
states.
Thomas acknowledged in a dissenting opinion that the court’s move to
allow gay marriages to go ahead "may well be seen as a signal of the
court’s intended resolution" as it considers cases from four other
states on whether same-sex marriage bans are permitted under the
U.S. Constitution. Although only two justices publicly dissented,
the court order did not reveal whether any other justices voted to
grant the stay.
Oral arguments in the cases, which are expected to result in a
definitive nationwide ruling on the matter, are due in April with a
decision expected by the end of June.
Gay rights groups shared Thomas' view.
Sarah Warbelow, Human Rights Campaign's legal director, said the
justices' action on Alabama "has telegraphed there is virtually zero
risk that they will issue an anti-equality ruling this summer."
The group also told same-sex couples in the 13 states where gay
marriage is still banned to "start your wedding plans now."
Thomas' words echoed Scalia's 2013 dissent from the court's decision
to invalidate a federal law that denied benefits to same-sex
couples. Scalia predicted that the language of Justice Anthony
Kennedy's opinion in that case would give judges a green light to
strike down state gay marriage bans. That's exactly what happened.
At the time of that ruling, only 12 of the 50 states permitted gay
marriage. That number has now hit 37, with federal judges playing
the central role in paving the way for gay marriage in 23 of the 25
states where it has become legal since then.
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As Thomas noted in his dissent, the court's normal practice would
have been to put the Alabama case on hold until it had decided the
cases involving the same-sex marriage bans in Ohio, Tennessee,
Kentucky and Michigan.
One of the factors the court considers when deciding whether to put
a hold on a lower-court ruling is the "likelihood of success" for
the petitioners if the case were to be appealed.
The court in recent months has denied similar stay requests from
other states, most recently Florida, thus allowing gay marriage to
go ahead even while litigation continues.
Alabama's case was different as it was the first application to be
made after the high court's announcement in January to take the four
cases and settle the matter once and for all.
(This version of the story adds Kentucky to list of four states in
paragraph)
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
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