As I have said many times, the function of the Supreme Court is to arbitrate public controversies for the purpose of formulating a position that reflects the dominant consensus of the power elite and “educated classes.” Leftists and rightists who get so worked up over Supreme Court nominees needn’t bother.

By Mark Joseph Stern, Slate

On Monday, the Supreme Court turned away Indiana’s attempt to strip equal parenting rights from married same-sex couples. The court’s decision ensures that same-sex couples in Indiana will remain the lawful parents of their own children, ending the state’s six-year-long crusade to remove their names from their children’s birth certificates. But beyond Indiana, Monday’s order also suggests that a majority of the justices aren’t eager to roll back marriage equality.

Box v. Henderson involves eight married lesbian couples in Indiana who conceived through artificial insemination. When a married opposite-sex couple uses a sperm donor, the birth mother’s husband is listed as the father on their child’s birth certificate. Genetics alone does not determine parenthood in the state.

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