Utah Same-Sex Marriages Put on Hold in US Supreme Court Decision

By Dan Roberts, Guardian UK

07 January 14

• Gay marriages suspended pending lower court appeal


• More than 900 couples have been married since ban lifted

he spread of gay marriage in the US slowed, at least briefly, on Monday, when the US supreme court ordered a temporary ban on same-sex weddings in Utah pending further appeals to a ruling that had allowed them

The legal stay puts gay marriage on hold in one of America's most socially conservative states despite a landmark decision by a federal judge who ruled that Utah's law against the practice was unconstitutional. More than 900 same-sex couples had reportedly rushed to get married in the state after the favourable ruling by judge Robert Shelby late last year.

But lawyers for the governor of Utah successfully argued that the state's ban should remain in place while they fight against the decision in the 10th circuit court of appeals. After that, the case could ultimately wind up being decided once and for all by the supreme court.

The 10th circuit appeals court in Denver will now consider arguments from the state against same-sex marriage as well as from the three gay and lesbian couples who challenged the ban in support of Shelby's ruling. Shelby and the appeals court had previously rebuffed the state's plea to stop gay weddings pending appeal.

The 10th Circuit has set short deadlines for both sides to file their written arguments, with the state's first brief due on 27 January. No date for argument has been set yet.

Equal rights campaigners were hoping that the supreme court might allow judge Robert Shelby's ruling to stand during the appeals process, thereby building further momentum behind two key rulings that the high court made on gay marriage in June.

In those earlier decisions, the court had overturned part of the Defense of Marriage Act (Doma), which deprived same-sex couples of federal benefits, and allowed gay marriage in California by declining to overturn a lower-court ruling that had struck down a law that prohibited such unions there.

Lawyers on the side of same-sex marriage in the Utah case had argued a stay was unnecessary because the governor could not show who may be "may be seriously and irreparably injured [without] the stay".

Utah initially sought an immediate stay from justice Sonia Sotomayor, who deals with emergency requests in 10th circuit cases, but she referred it to the full bench of supreme court justices rather than make a decision on her own.

The short statement that the court issued about its decision on Monday does not indicate how the court's nine justices voted on the question of whether to stay the matter pending further appeals.

Sean Reyes, the attorney general of Utah, said that it would attempt to determine whether the marriages carried out since Shelby's ruling were valid. "This is precisely the uncertainty we were hoping to avoid by requesting the stay," Reyes said. "It's unfortunate that many Utah citizens have been put into this legal limbo."