Current Affairs

US: California Supreme Court refuses to halt resume of same-sex marriages

Jul 15 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

The Supreme Court in the US state of California has refused to halt the resume of same-sex marriages in the state, following the US Supreme Court’s ruling last month, and a petition filed challenging it.

At the end of last week, supporters of California’s Proposition 8 filed a petition to the state Supreme Court challenging the recent resume of same-sex wedding ceremonies.

The first same-sex wedding took place between the plaintiffs who brought the case against Prop 8 at the end of June, following the Supreme Court declining to take up the case, and as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals since gave the green light for same-sex weddings to resume.

The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals previously lifted its stay on an injunction, which had ordered state officials to stop enforcing Prop 8, meaning marriage licenses could immediately be issued to same-sex couples.

Now the Supreme Court of California has refused to hold up the petition from ProtectMarriage, which originally sponsored the case against equal marriages.

The US Supreme Court specifically ruled that the ProtectMarriage had “no standing” to pursue an appeal of the 9th Circuit’s decision to strike down the ban after Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris declined to defend it.

In the petition filed on Friday by the organisation, it argued that Prop 8 technically should remain law because the Supreme Court did not directly rule on the constitutionality of same-sex marriages, in the case.

“The Ninth Circuit’s decision in Perry has been vacated,” The petition read, “hence there is no appellate decision holding that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.”

The petition filed in the state Supreme Court also argued that the original lawsuit named only the county clerks of Los Angeles and Alameda counties, and that the ruling should not reach the other 56 county clerks.

“The Legislature has not imbued the State Registrar with supervisory authority or control over county clerks issuing marriage licenses,” the petition continued.