In a somewhat surprising move, the Supreme Court this morning issued orders denying appeals in all seven of the same-sex marriage cases before it. They made no comment in the order as to why they were denying certiorari.

Practically speaking, this means that gay marriage will remain legal in each of the five states concerned—Wisconsin, Indiana, Virginia, Oklahoma, and Utah—since all of the cases appealed from invalidated statewide bans on same-sex marriage.

This just shows Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wasn't kidding when she told a University of Minnesota audience a couple of weeks ago that the Supreme Court justices were waiting for a circuit split on the matter. Any day now, we could get an opinion from, say, the Sixth Circuit which could change things again. The only thing which is certain is that this will mean it will take longer for the issue to reach the nation's highest Court.

[Image via AP]