Prop 8's Next Stop: Supreme Court

The 9th Circuit Court of appeals today refused to reconsider its ruling that Proposition 8 was discriminatory, clearing the way for the case to go to the Supreme Court, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Backers of the gay-marriage ban had asked the court to rehear the case with a special 11-judge panel, but as expected the court rejected that request with a brief order.

That leaves supporters nowhere to turn but to the highest court in the land. Gay weddings won't be allowed until they've had a chance to file that appeal. If the Supreme Court takes the case, it could wind up deciding for the entire country whether gay-marriage bans are fundamentally unconstitutional, but the 9th Circuit's ruling specifically avoided doing so. The court instead ruled as narrowly as possible, saying California's specific ban was discriminatory.