Gay marriage order to be deferred by US top court
29 March 2013 8:12 AM IST
The concept of same-sex marriage is too new for the US supreme court to get its head around, America’s top judges have indicated, suggesting that they might defer an opinion and allow society more time to evolve for itself what may currently be more of a social and moral issue rather than a legal one.
Both liberal and conservative elements on the nine-member bench appeared to have reservations on rushing to judgment in a case that has electrified American society and polity. ‘You want us to step in and render a decision on... an institution which is newer than cellphones or the Internet? I mean... we do not have the ability to see the future,’ conservative Justice Samuel Alito said, while echoing doubts that rang through the 80-minute arguments in a case challenging California’s Proposition 8, the state’s voter-approved gay marriage ban. Liberals Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, raised similar questions.
Ironically, in a rare move for an institution that's resisted bringing its proceedings into the digital age, the court release audio of Tuesday's events, enabling the country to hear the arguments first hand even as people lined up for days outside the court for the few ringside seats open to public.
The current bench is broadly thought to be evenly balanced between conservative and liberal justices with Justice Anthony Kennedy considered the swing vote. Even he reflected the anxieties of the court on the issue.
Both liberal and conservative elements on the nine-member bench appeared to have reservations on rushing to judgment in a case that has electrified American society and polity. ‘You want us to step in and render a decision on... an institution which is newer than cellphones or the Internet? I mean... we do not have the ability to see the future,’ conservative Justice Samuel Alito said, while echoing doubts that rang through the 80-minute arguments in a case challenging California’s Proposition 8, the state’s voter-approved gay marriage ban. Liberals Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, raised similar questions.
Ironically, in a rare move for an institution that's resisted bringing its proceedings into the digital age, the court release audio of Tuesday's events, enabling the country to hear the arguments first hand even as people lined up for days outside the court for the few ringside seats open to public.
The current bench is broadly thought to be evenly balanced between conservative and liberal justices with Justice Anthony Kennedy considered the swing vote. Even he reflected the anxieties of the court on the issue.
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