No Decision Today on Prop 8 or DOMA

According to SCOTUSblog, of the nineteen undecided cases remaining before the Supreme Court this session, neither Prop 8 nor DOMA were among five decisions released by the Court today. With fourteen cases yet to be decided, the next scheduled day for the Court to release decisions is this Thursday, June 20.

As reported on San Francisco NPR Station KQED, a SCOTUSblog post sheds light on potential reasons behind the delay in releasing decisions on the marriage cases.

Original post - We know there's intense interest in the impending Proposition 8 and Defense of Marriage Act opinions by the U.S. Supreme Court, so we've been up tracking the Court's release of its opinions each day that happens this month. Though, as inveterate Court watchers have said throughout, the most likely scenario is SCOTUS drags these two out till the very end and releases them at the end of the month.

SCOTUSblog expert, lawyer Amy Howe was quoted as saying "I think it's just all about when they have the opinions ready. These are big, historic cases that we're talking about, and there are likely to be multiple opinions. I was talking to someone who clerked at the Court, and he said last year that even if health care had been argued on the first day of the Term, it still would have gone to the last day."

The Supreme Court finished hearing oral arguments on both marriage cases, Hollingsworth v. Perry (Prop 8) and Windsor v. United States in late March, for the past two months, the Justices were busy drafting and circulating opinions on the undecided cases. The Court is scheduled to recess at the end of June.

According to the American Foundation for Equal Rights' website, the Court calendars days when it issues decisions. No advance notice is given as to when a particular decision will be handed down. Currently, the Court is scheduled to hand down decisions every Monday during June. Additional days may be added to the Court's calendar. The Court begins announcing its decisions at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.