Supreme Court Names Wednesday as Decision Day

The Supreme Court will wait until the final day of its 2013 term — Wednesday, June 26 — to rule on two landmark cases relating to marriage equality.

The Court did not issue rulings today in either Hollingsworth v. Perry, the Proposition 8 case, orU.S. v. Windsor, the case challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

After announcing today's rulings, Chief Justice John Roberts said Wednesday at 10 a.m. would be the last day and all the remaining opinions will be released, according to live coverage at SCOTUSBlog. 

The Court has yet to rule on three cases — Perry, Windsor, and Sekhar v. U.S., a case involving the admissibility of legal advice from an attorney. Since today had been the last scheduled day on the Court's calendar, it scheduled one last day to announce decisions. 

The Court did rule on the Voting Rights Act, however, in a case called Shelby County v. Holder. In a decision written by Roberts, the Court held that section 4 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional, since it uses an outdated formula to determine which states with racist histories are required to submit to federal approval before changing their voting provisions. According to SCOTUSBlog, however, "The Court makes clear that: 'Our decision in no way affects the permanent, nationwide ban on racial discrimination in voting found in [Section] 2. We issue no holding on [Section] 5 itself, only on the coverage formula. Congress may draft another formula based on current conditions.' "

(Pictured - Plaintiff couple Sandy Stier (left) and Kris Perry (right) arrive for their Proposition 8 case before the U.S. Supreme Court outside the Supreme Court building on June 25 in Washington, D.C.)

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