Maybe the Supreme Court's plan all along has been to dodge the issue by pushing all the circuits to legalize it, denying cert without comment to all the appeals, crossing their fingers that they don't have to resolve any split
That way we effectively get nationwide marriage equality without it being a lightning rod
I'm sure the Court would love it if all the Circuit Courts agreed on legalization. Unfortunately, I think at minimum the 5th Circuit will hold out. Even if a favorable panel rules in favor of SSM, the whole 5th Circuit may reverse en banc.
Regardless, if the Supreme Court doesn't grant cert in this initial wave of cases, we could see the number of states with gay marriage literally double by January or so as decisions in the 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th circuits go into effect. The big Supreme Court decision might just be to get those last 11 states.