The justices instructed the San Antonio court to use the Legislature's plan as a "starting point" except where legal challenges to aspects of it were likely to succeed.
In agreeing today to take jurisdiction of the case, the justices instructed the federal government to file a brief and make its views known.
In its order on Monday granting the appeal in the Utah case, the justices instructed the lawyers for both sides to brief and argue a question that neither side had raised: "Whether the court's decision in Saucier v.
In accepting Hollingsworth v. Perry, the case on the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, prohibiting same-sex marriage, the justices instructed the parties to brief and argue the preliminary question "whether petitioners have standing under Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution in this case".
The justices instructed the lower courts to reconsider the sentences in light of the Supreme Court's ruling on June 26 that any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the statutory maximum has to be found by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
In a brief order, the justices instructed a federal appeals court to take a second look at the case in light of the Supreme Court's decision in June in Boumediene v. Bush granting Guantánamo prisoners the right to challenge their detention in federal court.
But judge Mr Justice Coulson instructed the jury at Inner London Crown Court to acquit both defendants on Thursday, just over two weeks into their trial, having ruled on Wednesday that they had no case to answer.
How does Justice Scalia's death affect cases the court is in the middle of hearing? A. They proceed as if nothing happened, unless the Chief Justice instructs differently.
The grand jurors were sworn, and Justice Grier instructed them on the law, specifically the Act of 1820, which provided: Justice Grier further instructed the grand jury that it was unnecessary for the government to produce the corpse to prosecute a murder.
Before the justices even reached the merits of the constitutional case for same-sex marriage, Chief Justice John Roberts instructed both advocates to argue whether the parties defending Prop 8 had legal standing.
Mr Justice Briggs instructed the commission to reconsider the case.
