The Supreme Court today decided to hold off on a key announcement about which gay marriage cases, if any, they'll be hearing. Friday is now the earliest — but not quite the latest — we could hear about a decision during this Court term.

"The Supreme Court on Monday released added orders from its Friday Conference, but the list did not include any on the ten cases dealing with the same-sex marriage issue," the SCOTUS blog's Lyle Denniston wrote. "It now appears that those cases will be rescheduled for the Conference this Friday morning," Denniston added. That's sort of a bummer for people on both sides of the fight who were seeking a decision last week — a decision to hear or not hear the Prop. 8 case could mean either the beginning or prolonged suspension of gay marriages in California, while the DOMA cases could change the way legal same-sex marriages are viewed federally.

Now the wait will be similar to last week's with Friday set as the Court's final conference of the year, so an announcement could be forthcoming that afternoon or the following Monday morning, or else not at all this term. Stay tuned.

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Alexander Abad-Santos