With the latest news out of the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, the march towards a national resolution of the gay marriage question has hit a roadblock. By a 2-1 majority, a 3-judge panel of the 6th circuit upheld gay marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. In doing so, they have bucked the recent national trend in which all circuit court-level decisions have found in favor of gay marriage. I have mixed feelings about this development. On the one hand, it creates a split between the circuits, which makes it much more likely that the Supreme Court will take up the issue and settle it once and for all. On the other hand, I don’t like anything that messes with the the sense of inevitability that the recent string of decisions has created, because despite the marriage triumphalism of my recent post, I don’t trust the Supreme Court to get this issue right. In fact, I don’t trust this Supreme Court to get anything right, after the past few years of largely disastrous rulings. Read more