Steve Terrell’s excellent Roundhouse Roundup blog reports that the New Mexico Supreme Court has denied the petitions for writ of mandamus in Hanna v. Salazar and Griego v. Oliver, which asked the Court to recognize a right to same-sex marriage in New Mexico.
The Supreme Court’s denial is “without prejudice” to the petitioners’ right to pursue their claims in state district court (the Griego petitioners filed a case there some time ago), or potentially in federal district court. In other words, the Supreme Court has not decided against a right to same-sex marriage, but is simply ordering that these cases proceed in the lower courts, just like any other cases. Once the cases are resolved there, the losing parties will have a right to appeal, and at that time I think the Supreme Court would likely agree to consider this issue.
For more background on writs of mandamus, you can check out my earlier post, in which I listed several reasons why a writ of mandamus was likely not proper in these cases.
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