Federal appeals court refuses to rehear challenge to California's same-sex marriage ban A federal appeals court in San Francisco refused Tuesday to rehear a legal challenge to the state's same-sex marriage ban, sending the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals made the decision, which was based on whether a majority of its active judges had agreed or refused to reconsider a ruling in February in which two of its member judges declared the ban unconstitutional.