Associate Dean Amar Comments on Supreme Court and Same-sex Marriage for National Law Journal

Vikram Amar, Associate Dean and Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law, commented for the National Law Journal on the prospects for a U.S. Supreme Court hearing on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans in the wake of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruling upholding such prohibitions.

Given that four other circuit courts have struck down same-sex marriage bans, many view it as inevitable that the Supreme Court will grant review in order to resolve the circuit split, but Amar said that the justices may postpone consideration of the issue.

"The odds are likely the justices will grant review, but I don't know that they have to in this case right now if they want to buy more time to see how same-sex marriage is playing out in the states either by legislative choice or lower court rulings," Amar said. "The downside is the people in the Sixth Circuit won't have the same rights as others for some time."

Vikram Amar, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Law with the UC Davis School of Law, is a national authority in the fields of constitutional law, civil procedure, criminal procedure, and remedies. His biweekly column for Justia.com, a leading provider of online legal information, centers on his expertise in constitutional law.

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