Supreme Court refuses to review Louisiana marriage case

The Supreme Court declined this morning to review ongoing same-sex marriage litigation in Louisiana, the first state in which a federal judge upheld an existing marriage amendment. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman ruled in September that Louisiana has a rational basis for defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Some same-sex couples in Louisiana asked the high court to review that ruling now rather than waiting for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to make a decision, but the Supreme Court refused. The 5th Circuit heard oral arguments on the issue Friday.

The court has made a habit of refusing emergency appeals of cases addressing the marriage issue; last month it declined a similar request from marriage proponents in Florida to stay a judge’s decision that allowed same-sex marriage there. The 5th Circuit includes Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. Judges in Texas and Mississippi have ruled voter-approved marriage amendments in those states were unconstitutional.

So far, appeals courts from four of the 11 U.S. appellate circuits have upheld decisions that struck down marriage amendments. One, the 6th Circuit, comprising Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, has ruled that voter-approved marriage amendments should remain in place. The Supreme Court is considering whether to grant review to those 6th Circuit cases, which it is expected to do since that circuit’s ruling contradicted those in other circuits.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.