Utah is the next domino to fall...

Utah same-sex marriage ban struck down

I hope so, SciFi ~ but it's only a "maybe" for the moment ~ many knowledgeable people feel sure that an appeal will be filed, which will include an injunction against this decision until the appeal wends its way thru the process [which can take a VERY long time] ~ but for right now, people are rushing to get married while marriage equality IS the real deal there ~

Sooz

i think the ruling was already appealed.

I don't see how the appeal can be successful. Utah is a virtual duplicate situation as with what happened in California, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California has to allow same-sex marriages and refused to hear the appeal.

This rejection gives me more confidence ~ we'll see ~ Sooz

Appeals court allows Utah marriages to continue
12/23/13 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen

Late Friday, a federal district court ruled that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional. Judge Robert Shelby found that the statewide law, approved by Utah voters in 2004, violates gay and lesbian couples’ rights to due process and equal protection under the 14th Amendment, and “demeans the dignity of these same-sex couples for no rational reason.”

Shelby did not issue a stay with his decision, which meant that on Friday afternoon, marriage equality was the law of the land in Utah – a reality that many same-sex couples were eager to quickly take advantage of.

Over the weekend, state officials sought emergency relief from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. That didn’t go well.

A federal appeals court on Sunday declined to stop officials in Utah from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples following a judge’s ruling last week that overturned the state’s ban on gay marriage.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert asked for an emergency stay to prevent marriage licenses from being issued to same-sex couples after U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby on Friday ruled the ban unconstitutional.

In this case, state officials basically tried to move things along more quickly – they went to the 10th Circuit over the weekend so they wouldn’t have to wait until this morning to try again with Judge Shelby. The 10th Circuit effectively told the state that there was no actual emergency so there’s no reason to short circuit the normal procedure.

In practical terms, that means marriage equality is still the law of the land in Utah, at least as of this minute, and same-sex unions can continue this morning.

So what’s next? The state will go back to the district court this morning – Shelby scheduled a hearing for 9 a.m. local time – to ask that Friday’s ruling be put on hold while the appeals process continues. Barring a surprise, Shelby seems likely to turn down that request.

At that point, same-sex marriages will continue, while the case goes back to the 10th Circuit.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/court-allows-utah-marriages-continue

This is from last night and further explains the procedure ~ Sooz

TPM Editor's Blog
Big News of Out Utah
Josh Marshall – December 22, 2013, 8:18 PM EST

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals this afternoon denied Utah's motion for a temporary stay of the federal court ruling which made same sex marriages legal in the state on Friday. (Here's the actual ruling.) That doesn't mean the 10th Circuit backs the lower court ruling, only that it won't prevent more marriages from taking place under the ruling until it hears the merits of the case.

[ed.note: I misinterpreted the Court's ruling. The upshot is the same. But the reasoning is different. The State of Utah is saying that the district court isn't moving quickly enough on its request for a stay so it's jumping up to the appellate court with a request for extraordinary relief. The appellate court is saying, no, you've got to follow standard procedure. The request is premature. So they refused to take it up. The upshot is that the ruling is even more narrow and procedural than I realized.]

In practice that means that marriage certificates will continue to be issued tomorrow morning in the state and probably for some indeterminate period after that until the 10th Circuit rules on the state's actual appeal.

What's normally required to get such a stay is to show a likelihood of winning on appeal and a showing of "irreparable injury" from the ruling. So on its face the 10th Circuit's denial would seem to suggest that the judges do not think the State of Utah is likely to prevail. But that is actually not clear. In their decision they note that the state did not even address these issues. So they are free to refile their petition and address those arguments.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/federal-court-wont-stop-marriages-in-utah

I don't expect the Mormon Temple and all the money behind it to roll over. If they don't get what they want through legal channels, they'll try illegal ones.

LOL! this is amazing. so, for now, the ruling STANDS????

You're 100% correct, greeny ~ see below ~ and yes, Mac, "the ruling STANDS" ... at least technically ~ see below ~ ~ Sooz

Utah County Adopts Jim Crow Tactic, Preventing Same-Sex Couples From Marrying
By Ian Millhiser on December 23, 2013 at 1:10 pm

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s school desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Virginia Sen. Harry F. Byrd called for a campaign of “massive resistance” to Brown in an effort to thwart public school integration. One Virginia county even shut down its public school system entirely from 1959 until 1964 in order to prevent black children from attending school alongside white ones. Fifty years after Prince Edward County, Virginia reopened its schools, however, a Utah county clerk has apparently decided to follow its lead.

The Cache County, Utah Clerk’s office is closed on Monday, meaning that no one who visits that office may obtain a marriage license — whether they are gay or straight. Though the county has not explicitly stated that it closed the office in an act of massive resistance to a recent federal court decision calling for marriage equality in Utah, the county attorney’s office released a statement linking the closure to that decision: “Given the status of the pending motion for a stay and the appeal that will be filed by the state of Utah, the Clerk’s Office will be closed until further notice.”

Both the county attorney’s office and the county executive’s office declined to provide further comment to ThinkProgress on why the county clerk’s office is not open. Nor did they answer the question “do you think the judge’s opinion” holding that the Constitution requires marriage equality “was unclear?” Instead, they repeatedly referred me to the press statement indicating that the clerk’s office will remain closed indefinitely “to sort out the legal issues and confusion created in the wake of Judge Shelby’s opinion.”

Some other Utah counties have kept their clerk’s office open while simply refusing to provide licenses to same-sex couples. Cache County, however, appears to have taken a different tactic. Rather than simply comply with a federal court decision requiring same-sex couples to be afforded the same constitutional rights as opposite-sex couples, Cache County decided to stop issuing licenses to everyone gay or straight. Harry Byrd would be proud.

Update: Eric Ethington, a staffer with a self-described “social justice think tank” who is monitoring the clerks’ office in Utah County, Utah reports that the Utah County Clerk says he will “NOT issue marriage licenses, even though knows it might be illegal for him not to.”

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/12/23/3100801/utah-county-adopts-jim-crow-tactic-preventing-sex-couples-marrying/

Strike 3 on the naysayers! ~ the decision, the judge's refusal to issue a stay, and now the federal appeals court refusal to act ~ and the more marriages that take place before the legal process runs its course, the harder and more damaging it will be to overturn ~ looking better and better! ~ Sooz

10th Circuit won’t block Utah marriages
12/25/13 09:24 AM
By Steve Benen

State officials in Utah struck out in a federal district court this week, where a judge struck down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriages and refused to issue a stay leaving the law in place. The state hoped to have better luck at the federal appeals court.

Instead, last night, proponents of marriage equality received a welcome early Christmas present.


In practical terms, the moment the federal district court struck down Utah’s ban as unconstitutional, equal marriage rights immediately applied to the Beehive State. Last night, the 10th Circuit said the marriages can continue while the legal process unfolds – suggesting state officials are likely to lose their case at the appellate level, too.

So, what can Utah do now to block legally recognized same-sex marriages? The next step will be state officials seeking a stay from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is assigned oversight over 10th Circuit cases. If she declines, state officials may seek emergency relief from the entire U.S. Supreme Court, which appears to be a long shot, at best.

In the meantime, same-sex couples in Utah who wish to marry will be able to do so. According to the Salt Lake Tribune’s report, as of yesterday, four of the state’s 29 counties were refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but that was before last night’s news. If these counties continue to ignore the courts, they’ll be breaking the law and could be subject to penalties.

Looking ahead, keep an eye on the U.S. Supreme Court, which seems likely to deliver more bad news for state officials in Utah. As for the 10th Circuit ruling on the merits of the case, the process will take months.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/10th-circuit-wont-block-utah-marriages

UNREAL! this thing is going to stand for MONTHS.

they literally have NO WAY TO BLOCK IT!

did ANYONE here see this one coming?

I'm thinking this is proof that Utahns are beginning to see the light ~ ~ Sooz

‘The scales have tipped’
12/30/13 09:15 AM—Updated 12/30/13 10:41 AM
By Steve Benen

On Christmas Eve, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an emergency appeal from state officials in Utah, which in turn allowed same-sex marriages to continue while the legal process continues to unfold. There were, however, a handful of Utah’s 29 counties that simply did not want to go along with court orders.

To be sure, the larger legal wrangling is certainly interesting enough, but how long, exactly, could those hold-out counties expect to defy federal court rulings without punishment? Late last week, it became a moot point – as the Associated Press reported, they gave in.


That’s true; their options had dwindled to one: follow the law.

Norman Johnson, one of the county clerks who had initially balked, added, “We have no choice. The scales have tipped. It’s not the way I want to see things go. But the law’s the law, and I accept it. It’s time.”

Looking ahead, the state is reportedly prepared to spend as much as $2 million in taxpayer money to keep up the legal fight against marriage equality. That’s quite a chunk of change to demand indefinite discrimination.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-scales-have-tipped

utah is now marked blue on the marriage equality map.

wow.

It's only a "temporary stay", but still ... ~ I'll watch for more info ~ Sooz

TPM LIVEWIRE
Supreme Court Puts Gay Marriage On Hold In Utah
Caitlin MacNeal – January 6, 2014, 10:36 AM EST

The Supreme Court on Monday granted Utah's request for a temporary stay on same-sex marriages in the state.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gay-marriage-on-hold-utah-supreme-court

GRRRRRRRRRR ~ ~ Sooz

BREAKING: Utah Governor Says State Will Not Recognize 1300+ Same-Sex Marriages
By Ian Millhiser on January 8, 2014 at 12:38 pm

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert’s (R) office announced Wednesday that his state will not recognize the over 1,300 same sex marriages performed between when a federal trial judge held that the Constitution requires marriage equality and when the Supreme Court stayed that decision on Monday. The governor’s announcement applies so long as the Supreme Court’s stay is in effect.

Though a disappointing announcement for the hundreds of couples who briefly enjoyed the full blessings of liberty in Utah, this is not a particularly surprising one. Utah’s constitution provides that “[m]arriage consists only of the legal union between a man and a woman,” and the legal basis for ignoring this discriminatory provision and allowing the over 1,300 couples to marry was a court order that has now ceased to function for as long as the stay is in effect.

While it is certainly true that the Constitution of the United States — with its requirement that gay couples be afforded the “equal protection of the laws” — trumps the Utah constitution, Utah has made it perfectly clear that they plan to fight offering equal rights to gay couples until the bitter end.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/01/08/3135831/breaking-utah-governor-says-stay-recognize-1300-sex-marriages-performed-state/

Yeah, that sounds more like the Utah we know.

Our school motto is from Aristotle: do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reason ~ this fits snuggly into that mindset ~ ~ Sooz

Holder: Feds recognize Utah’s same-sex marriages
01/10/14 02:29 PM
By Steve Benen


The legal status of same-sex married couples in Utah has become a little murky in recent days. Attorney General Eric Holder tried to bring some clarity to the issue this afternoon.

Last month, a federal court struck down Utah’s ban on marriage equality, immediately opening the door to equal-marriage rights statewide. Roughly 1,300 couples took advantage of the opportunity and tied the legally recognized knot.

The U.S. Supreme Court, however, issued a stay this week, reinstating Utah’s ban while the appeals process unfolds. And as Adam Serwer explained, state officials “took the additional step of telling the couples who were married in the meantime that, in the eyes of the state of Utah, while the litigation is ongoing, those marriages don’t count.”

AG Holder offered a response today, letting those same couples know that as far as the federal government is concerned, their marriages do count. For those who can’t watch clips online, he said in a new video:


As for the practical implications, Charlie Savage added, “A variety of federal benefits are accorded to legally married couples, including being able to file jointly for federal income taxes; exemption from estate taxes and eligibility for some Social Security claims if one spouse dies; eligibility for health and life insurance for spouses of federal employees; the ability to sponsor a spouse who is not a United States citizen for a family-based immigration visa; and eligibility for survivor benefits for spouses of soldiers and diplomats.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/holder-us-recognizes-utah-same-sex-marriages