Same-sex Marriage By Circuit Court on:
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Prior to the
Prior to the landmark ruling
Landmark court decisions, in present-day common law legal systems, establish precedents that determine a significant new legal principle or concept, or otherwise substantially affect the interpretation of existing law. "Leading case" is commonly ...
''United States v. Windsor
''United States v. Windsor'', 570 U.S. 744 (2013), is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case concerning same-sex marriage. The Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition o ...
'', the constitutionality of banning same-sex marriage was upheld by the Eighth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts:
* Eastern District of Arkansas
* Western Dist ...
in ''Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning
''Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning'', 455 F.3d 859 (8th Cir. 2006), was a federal lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska and decided on appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circ ...
''. After the ''Windsor'' ruling, many same-sex marriage bans were struck down by lower courts. The Tenth, Fourth, Seventh
Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven.
Seventh may refer to:
* Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution
* A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts
Film and television
*"The Seventh", a second-season e ...
, and Ninth
In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second.
Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...
circuits all ruled that same-sex marriage bans were unconstitutional. The cases that made it to these circuit courts originated in district courts, which for the most part, also struck down same-sex marriage bans. When a circuit court struck down a state's same-sex marriage ban, it did not directly or immediately strike down same-sex marriage bans in other states within the circuit court’s jurisdiction. However, it paved the way for same-sex marriage bans to be struck down in the entire circuit, due to the precedent
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...
it set for district courts within the circuit to follow. In some states, same-sex marriage was already legal before their federal circuit court ruled on the matter.
The Sixth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
* Eastern District of Kentucky
* Western District of K ...
ruled that same-sex marriage bans were not unconstitutional and reversed the district court rulings that struck down same-sex marriage bans. Since this was the only circuit court to rule this way post-''Windsor'', this created a circuit split
In United States federal courts, a circuit split occurs when two or more different circuit courts of appeals provide conflicting rulings on the same legal issue. The existence of a circuit split is one of the factors that the Supreme Court of ...
which ultimately led to the Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
deciding to resolve the issue once and for all. The Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage bans violate the constitution, in the landmark ruling ''Obergefell v. Hodges
''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protect ...
'', which was the consolidated case with cases originating from each state in the Sixth Circuit. Some circuit courts have not ruled on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans at all. Some circuit courts had pending same-sex marriage cases, but decided to hold off on rendering a decision until the Supreme Court ruled on the matter.
See also
*Same-sex marriage under United States tribal jurisdictions
The Supreme Court decision in '' Obergefell v. Hodges'' that legalized same-sex marriage in the states and most territories did not legalize same-sex marriage on Indian reservations. In the United States, Congress (not the federal courts) has l ...
References
{{reflist United States courts of appeals