After putting a temporary hold on marriage equality on Monday, the US Supreme Court cleared the way for weddings to begin yesterday.
LGBTQ Nation reports:
The nation’s highest court denied a request from Kansas to prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying while the state fights the issue in court. The order is consistent with how the justices have handled recent requests from other states that have sought to keep their bans in place while they appealed lower court rulings in favor of gay and lesbian couples. However, Kansas’ emergency appeal was closely watched to see if the court would change its practice following last week’s appellate ruling upholding anti-gay marriage laws in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. Those cases now are headed to the Supreme Court, and the gay marriage issue nationwide could be heard and decided by late June.
As Lyle Denniston at Scotusblog notes, this time was a little different.
Joe.My.God reports:
The Court has issued a series of orders in same-sex marriage cases over the past eleven months, but the Kansas order marked the first time that members of the Court had recorded dissents. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas noted only that they would have granted the delay sought by the Kansas attorney general. Kansas officials had attempted to show that their case was different from others that the Supreme Court had chosen to leave undisturbed, arguing that the federal judge’s order was an invalid attempt to second-guess a Kansas Supreme Court order delaying the issuance of same-sex marriages. The federal judge had rejected that claim, but it may have been the one that drew the implied support of Justices Scalia and Thomas. The state still has an appeal pending at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, but that has little promise, because that appeals court has struck down bans in two other states in its region — Oklahoma and Utah. The Supreme Court refused to review those Tenth Circuit rulings on October 6. The Kansas ban is almost identical to those in other states.
Atty. Gen. Derek Schmidt is trying to limit the ruling to just two counties.
Joe.My.God reports:
Schmidt says that decision applies only in Douglas, a northeastern Kansas county, and Sedgwick, in south-central Kansas, where the court clerks are defendants. The American Civil Liberties Union contends the ruling applies in all 105 counties. The legal situation in Kansas is complicated by another case before the Kansas Supreme Court, which Schmidt filed last month. He persuaded the Kansas court to block marriage licenses for same-sex couples, at least while his case is heard. Marriage licenses in Kansas are issued by district court clerks’ offices after a mandatory three-day wait. In Johnson County, Court Clerk Sandra McCurdy said about 70 applications from same-sex couples are pending. “Until I hear something from the Kansas Supreme Court, I’m not issuing any marriage licenses,” McCurdy said.
Newly reelected Gov. Sam Brownback said he is not giving up on defending the ban.
LGBGQ Nation reports:
The Republican governor supports the ban and has said it is worth defending because voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the state constitution against gay marriage in 2005. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the governor issued a statement saying he took an oath to support the state constitution. He added that he would review the decision and consult with state Attorney General Derek Schmidt on “how best we continue those efforts.”
We’ll see how much they continue to dig in their heels until they finally give in to the inevitable.
Find more articles and gay wedding resources in Kansas.
