An Idaho judge’s decision to strike down the state’s gay marriage ban was put on hold by a U.S. appeals court as Arkansas’ attorney general waits for that state’s top court to rule on his bid to block a similar ruling.
Idaho Governor Butch Otter won a reprieve from U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale’s May 13 ruling that the state’s prohibition was unconstitutional. In a one-sentence order, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco yesterday delayed implementation of her decision, which was to take effect today.
Otter, a Republican, is seeking a longer stay pending the outcome of his state’s appeal.
Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, a Democrat, asked his state’s Supreme Court yesterday to immediately halt marriages made possible by a Little Rock judge’s decision last week to invalidate the state’s ban. The high court ordered those who sued to overturn the ban to file opposing papers by noon May 19.
Same-sex marriage has been deemed lawful in 23 states and the District of Columbia. Judges in several of those jurisdictions have delayed the their rulings from taking effect while appeals are pending.
Several of the lawsuits challenging state same-sex marriage bans were filed in the wake of a U.S.Supreme Court decision in June that struck down a measure that limited federal recognition to marriages between a man and a woman.
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SOURCE: Andrew Harris, Joel Rosenblatt and Karen Gullo
Bloomberg
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