EDIT 9/11/14 - All 7 petitions will be considered by the Justices when they meet on 9/29 for a private conference.
The 7th Circuit case, with an opinion at times witty, scathing and sarcastic, penned by Reagan-appointee Judge Richard Posner, found same-sex marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana unlawful discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, holding, "the discrimination against same-sex couples is irrational, and therefore unconstitutional." As SCOTUSblog discusses, in finding that the laws amounted to discrimination, Posner avoided dealing with a thornier and more complex analysis of marriage as a fundamental right under the Due Process clause. Posner wrote, "Our pair of cases is rich in detail but ultimately straight-forward to decide. The challenged laws discriminate against a minority defined by an immutable characteristic, and the only rationale that the states put forth with any conviction—that same-sex couples and their children don’t need marriage because same-sex couples can’t produce children, intended or unintended—is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously."
The appeals are not mandatory, meaning that the U.S. Supreme Court has discretion as to whether to hear the cases, but SCOTUSblog reportsthat parties on all sides are urging the Court to act. There is not currently a split among circuits courts with respect to these issues, which would almost certainly prompt faster action by the high court. This could change, however, as there are cases awaiting decision in both the 6th and 9th Circuits.