U.S.
Supreme Court puts temporary hold on Utah same-sex marriage
The US Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses in Utah. The Utah Attorney General filed an application for stay with the court last week to block same-sex marriages pending the state's appeal of a US district judge's December 20 decision striking down the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. Three similar applications to the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit have already been rejected. In the application for stay, the attorney general argued that the district court's decision to strike down the ban on same-sex marriage is an "impermissible federal intrusion on state power" to define marriage. Meanwhile, supporters of same-sex marriage urged the Supreme Court to reject the request to stay the district court's ruling. The court responded with a brief order to stay the ruling pending expedited review by the appellate court but offered no word on the constitutionality of the issue. While the Supreme Court's ruling puts a hold on same-sex marriages in Utah only, the upcoming Tenth Circuit decision could have an affect on all states within its jurisdiction.
Same-sex marriage has been a controversial issue in the US and internationally. Last month the US District Court for the District of Utah ruled that Utah's constitutional and statutory bans on same-sex marriage violated due process and equal protection guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. The same day that the Utah ruling was issued, the Uganda parliament passed a bill limiting the rights of same-sex couples and imposing a penalty of up to life imprisonment for involvement in homosexual relationships. Earlier that week, New Mexico's high court ruled that it is unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. The same week, the US executive branch announced that it would begin processing Social Security payments to surviving couples in accordance with a US Supreme Court ruling issued this summer which struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal statute that defined marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman for all federal purposes and refused to recognize any other type of marriage.
(Published by Jurist – January 6, 2013)