Federal Judiciary

Briefs in on resuming gay marriages

By Lyle Denniston

Briefing was completed on Thursday on the request by same-sex couples in California for the Ninth Circuit Court to allow gay and lesbian marriages to resume in the state.  The two couples who successfully challenged the Proposition 8 ban filed their reply brief on their motion to lift an order that has blocked a federal judge’s decision that the ballot measure is unconstitutional.  The Ninth Circuit could now rule on that issue at any time.

A key point in the new brief is that, if Proposition 8 ultimately is struck down, marriage would be open to all same-sex couples who seek it, throughout the state, and not just to the two couples who brought the case, or the two counties where marriage license denials led to the lawsuit.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on March 17, 2011 (boomark / email).