Supreme Court DOMA and Prop 8 Decisions Will Be Issued on June 26 or 27

Impact

The Supreme Court still has yet to issue an opinion on the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 (from California), while court watchers, and much of the nation, wait anxiously. The decisions on those two cases are likely to be handed down next week, on June 26 or June 27.

On Thursday, the court issued three opinions, none of which were the big four we're looking out for (affirmative action, voting rights, DOMA, and Prop. 8). However, they're still very significant opinions. Here are the Supreme Court opinions from June 20: 

1) Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International

via SCOTUSblogIssue: Whether the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003, 22 U.S.C. § 7631(f), which requires an organization to have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking in order to receive federal funding to provide HIV and AIDS programs overseas, violates the First Amendment. (Kagan, J., recused.)

2)Descamps v. United States

via SCOTUSblogIssue: Whether, in a case under the Armed Career Criminal Act, when a state crime does not require an element of the federal crime of burglary, the federal court may find the existence of that element by examining the record of the state proceedings under the "modified categorical approach.”

3) American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant

via SCOTUSblogIssue: Whether the Federal Arbitration Act permits courts, invoking the “federal substantive law of arbitrability,” to invalidate arbitration agreements on the ground that they do not permit class arbitration of a federal-law claim. (Sotomayor, J., recused).