Will the Supreme Court Hear Same Sex Marriage Cases?
On most important issues, change doesn’t often come quickly, but with the Supreme Court soon to decide if it will take up the review of state level bans of same sex marriage, change may have come quicker than we thought.
Ben & Jerry’s happily signed onto a Marriage Amicus Brief asking federal judges to review the multiple circuit court decisions that state level bans of same sex marriage are un-constitutional. 15 months after the United States V. Windsor decision, federal law may be changing at the same pace as public opinion. On September 29th, the Supreme Court is scheduled to decide whether they will hear the one or more of these circuit court decisions, and finally make a broad federal resolution on marriage equality.
“You have some states that allow same sex marriage and other states that don’t,” explains Chris Miller, Ben & Jerry’s Activism Manager, “and it’s become this patchwork of lower court decisions. The only way to resolve this is for the high court to hear the case.”
Ben & Jerry’s signed onto the Employers Amicus Brief with 30 other global and local companies to share the negative effects that a divisive ruling of marriage between federal and state levels has on employees and the businesses that manage them. The broad range of businesses and firms that took part in the brief reflects the recent mainstreaming of this issue.
“This is quick, but the politics and society have moved fast on this issue,” Miller says, explaining the huge impetus behind the Supreme Court’s speedy decision to consider marriage equality. “You’ve seen a big shift in public opinion in just the last few years, so there’s all these dominoes lined up behind the Supreme Court taking this up.”
While we’re proud to be one of the first companies in the US to support employees’ rights to love who they love, we’re even more excited to see this issue reaching critical mass and returning to the Supreme Court so swiftly. With the lower courts and private sectors making it clear that every person deserves the right to marry without a bias on gender, we’re more confident than ever that we’ll soon see a conclusion to this epic struggle.
Monday, we’ll be watching and waiting. Click over to Human Rights Campaign to find out ways you can get involved on this landmark issue, and support marriage equality in your own state.
We believe that #LoveIsLove & have joined the amicus brief to #SCOTUS for #MarriageEquality. http://t.co/IRMaQvZBwz pic.twitter.com/63TICnF8ne
— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) September 17, 2014