Supreme Court Asked To Bypass 9th Circuit To Review Nevada Same-Sex Marriage Case

On Wednesday, the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage filed a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court asking it to take the unusual step of reviewing the district court decision in Sevcik v. Sandoval before the case is briefed, argued or decided by the 9th Circuit. (Full text of certiorari petition.)  In the case, a Nevada federal district court upheld Nevada's ban on same-sex marriages, rejecting an Equal Protection Clause challenge to the law. (See prior posting.) The certiorari petition essentially argues that this is a better case for the Supreme Court to use in deciding basic constitutional issues on same-sex marriage than are the other cases which the Court is currently considering for possible review. Dale Carpenter at Volokh Conspiracy discusses the Cert. petition and predicts the court will not grant review in the case.