Quote:
Originally Posted by KSigkid
It's no guarantee that the Supreme Court will even hear the case...appellant's lawyer may not file a cert petition, and the Court might not grant the petition if that happens. The Supreme Court reviews such a small number of cases (compared to the number of cert petitions, and the number of federal appellate cases) that it's always a better bet to assume that the Court won't end up reviewing a case.
As to whether it's Constitutional or not...it depends on how the appellate court frames the issue. Depending on the right involved, there are different standards by which the courts could view the issue in light of the Constitution, ranging in scrutiny from the rational basis standard to the strict scrutiny approach. Basically, it's a way of weighing the merits of the policy against any issues of Constitutional infringement. Depending on the standard used, the courts could find that the governmental interest is weighty enough to outweigh those Constitutional concerns.
In this case, I'd imagine it would be presented as some sort of equal protection argument.
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Really? You think the supreme court wouldn't take the case? I can see if they didn't file the petition, but honestly, they're going to pass on the case involving a high profile US armed forces policy? It's not that I doubt you, so much, just that what you're telling me is amazing in itself. I suppose I hadn't thought it about very critically, but it just seems like something that they'd almost have to handle.