WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused to get involved in the national debate over same-sex marriage Monday, leaving intact lower court rulings that will legalize the practice in 11 additional states.
The unexpected decision by the justices, announced without further explanation, immediately affects five states in which federal appeals courts had struck down bans against gay marriage: Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Utah.
It also will bring along six other states located in the judicial circuits overseen by those appellate courts: North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming. Lower court judges in those states must abide by their appeals court rulings.
The action eventually will bring to 30 the number of states where gays and lesbians can marry. Appeals courts in Cincinnati and San Francisco are considering cases that could expand that number further, presuming the Supreme Court remains outside the legal fray.
"The court's letting stand these victories means that gay couples will soon share in the freedom to marry in 30 states, representing 60% of the American people," said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry. "But we are one country, with one Constitution, and the court's delay in affirming the freedom to marry nationwide prolongs the patchwork of state-to-state discrimination and the harms and indignity that the denial of marriage still inflicts on too many couples in too many places."
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers on Monday said all 64 county clerks must begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear all appeals on gay marriage bans.
Clerks in Boulder and Denver said they were awaiting final clearance before they begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Once the legal formalities are finalized, same-sex marriage will be legal in Colorado.
Within hours of the high court's announcement, the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay it had imposed when it struck down Utah's ban on same-sex marriage.
Every federal appeals court that has considered the issue has followed the 10th Circuit's lead and struck down bans on same-sex marriage.
Suthers' announcement was an abrupt and unexpected resolution to the legal battles in Colorado, including the attorney general's previous successful efforts to stop to county clerks from issuing same-sex marriage licenses this past summer.
Same-sex couples have resumed marrying in Utah, after the Supreme Court declined to rule on a previous case striking down the state’s same-sex marriage ban.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Mary Fallin is criticizing the federal courts for allowing gay marriage in Oklahoma, saying the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a violation of states’ rights.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court has struck down gay marriage bans in Idaho and Nevada.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco made the ruling Tuesday. It did not decide on a similar case in Hawaii, which legalized gay marriage in December.
State and federal court judges have been striking down bans at a rapid rate since a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year. The 9th Circuit ruling comes a day after the Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage in 11 more states, for a total of 30, when it rejected a set of appeals.
The appeals court ruled that gay couples' equal protection rights were violated by the bans. Judge Stephen Reinhardt said during oral arguments in September that he expects the Supreme Court ultimately will decide whether gay marriage bans are constitutional.
NEW ORLEANS, La. — Lambda Legal said Tuesday it is joining the legal team representing seven Louisiana same-sex couples and the Forum for Equality Louisiana, the state’s LGBT rights organization, in their appeal to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals of last month’s U.S. District Court ruling upholding Louisiana’s gay marriage ban.
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is sending notice to local social services divisions that married, same-sex couples can now adopt children. McAuliffe’s office announced Friday that it was formally recognizing that same-sex couples can legally adopt.
The U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage in Virginia Monday, prompting gay couples around the state to begin marrying.
McAuliffe said he hopes the legalization of same-sex marriage will lead to more children finding loving families.
The Democratic governor also planned to officiate a gay wedding ceremony in northern Virginia Friday.
PHOENIX — The federal judge considering challenges to Arizona’s same-sex marriage ban says the outcome appears to be dictated by an appellate court’s ruling overturning bans in two other states.
U.S. District Judge John Sedwick said in an order issued Thursday that the sides in one of the Arizona cases may submit briefs discussing the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said gay marriage prohibitions in Nevada and Idaho violate equal protection rights of same-sex couples.
Arizona is part of the 9th Circuit, and Sedwick said the appellate court’s ruling in the other states apparently “controls the outcome” of the Arizona case.
RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal judge in North Carolina has struck down the state’s gay marriage ban, opening the way for the first same-sex weddings in the state to begin immediately.
U.S. District Court Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr., in Asheville issued a ruling Friday shortly after 5 p.m. declaring the ban approved by state voters in 2012 unconstitutional.
Buncombe County Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger kept his Asheville office open late to begin issuing marriage licenses to waiting couples.
Cogburn’s ruling follows Monday’s announcement by the U.S. Supreme Court that it would not hear any appeal of a July ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond striking down Virginia’s ban. That court has jurisdiction over North Carolina.
