Tag Archive for: Utah Supreme Court

Utah’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari in Kitchens v. Herbert – Same Sex Marriage

September 2014

In legal circles as in life, be careful what you wish for. The news is out that Utah has filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in the same sex marriage case. Utah is requesting the United States Supreme Court to review the 10th Circuit’s ruling upholding the Utah district court’s decision that the Amendment 3 unconstitutional.

As you may know, Utah’s Amendment 3, Article I, Section 29 on [Marriage.] reads (1) Marriage consists only of the legal union between a man and a woman. (2) No other domestic union, however denominated, may be recognized as a marriage 070-416 or given the same or substantially equivalent legal effect.

In a surprising move to some, the plaintiffs in Utah’s same sex marriage case indicated that they intend to join in Utah’s request to have the 10th Circuit’s ruling reviewed. The Salt Lake Tribune reporter accurately noted: “victors rarely ask for a rematch.” The pundits have started weighing in on the chances of the United States Supreme Court accepting the case for discretionary review.

In a nutshell, the plaintiffs’ decision to join rather than oppose Utah’s petition should give the State and those who oppose same-sex marriage pause for thought. The reason that the plaintiffs have decided to join in the State’s request is that Amendment 3 and the arguments that Utah is advancing in its support represent the best case – in the plaintiffs’ view – to have the United States Supreme Court uphold the unconstitutionality of same sex marriage laws. As the articles discuss, other states and other federal circuits have similar challenges in the pipeline. For proponents of same sex marriage, Amendment 3 is one of the, if not the, least defensible laws percolating up through the federal circuits. The plaintiffs want to argue Amendment 3 is unconstitutional rather than some other state’s statute because it is an easier argument to make.

Appellate court decisions are an effective means to achieve favorable laws in many areas of the law and in industry and commerce. Savvy parties and legal advocates, however, carefully choose which cases to appeal and which to accept in defeat. Perhaps Utah will be successful, and as the pundits note, it is likely that Utah’s petition will be joined with another state or states similar to petition, meaning that the United States will be considering other same 070-460 sex marriage bans in conjunction with Amendment 3. Nonetheless, the plaintiffs’ decision to join Utah’s petition is a telling sign as to how Amendment 3 compares to other states’ laws.

Additional Articles:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58165963-78/court-marriage-state-utah.html.csp

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/58263347-90/utah-marriage-state-court.html.csp

http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/08/same-sex-couples-to-support-court-review-on-marriage/.

Petitions for Writ of Certiorari – Utah Court of Appeals

Zack Peterson
August 2014, Updated September 2014

In any given year, the Utah Court of Appeals issues in excess of 300 published decisions and this number is often close to, if not in excess of, 400 opinions. This means that 200 parties in a given year leave Utah’s intermediate appellate court with a feeling of dissatisfaction.

The Court released its statistics for July and August of 2014, and the numbers continue to trend downward in the number of Writs being issued. In July and August, 26 petitions were filed, and the Court granted none of the petitions. Through the first two-thirds of 2014, the Court has granted about 7% of the petitions filed.

Over the last five years, about half of these displeased parties instruct their counsel to petition the Utah Supreme Court to review the court of appeals’ decision for correctness. Historically, roughly 20% of these petitions result in the Utah Supreme Court exercising its power of discretionary review. For those tracking these numbers, that equates to about 5% of the losing parties who are able to successfully lobby the Utah Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeals’ decisions.

How are the parties who are unsuccessful at the intermediate court faring in having their case heard at the Utah Supreme Court this year? Through the first half of 2014, the number of petitions for a Writ of Certiorari is about average or slightly above average; however, the Utah Supreme Court has only granted about 10% of the petitions. This rate is lower than the historical averages at roughly 20%. Perhaps the number of writs issued will increase in the second half of 2014.

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