US: Colorado county clerk can continue issuing same-sex marriage licenses

Colorado county clerk Hillary Hall can continue issuing same-sex marriage licenses in the state, a judge ruled Thursday.

Boulder County judge Andrew Hartman ruled that Hall can continue issuing licenses, stating that although same-sex marriage is illegal in Colorado, Hall is not harming anyone with her actions.

Republican Attorney General John Suthers filed the motion on 3 July aiming to stop Hall from issuing licenses, stating that Hall would cause people to suffer “immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage” if she isn’t stopped. 

Though Judge Hartman did not agree with this claim, he did state that couples receiving same-sex marriage licenses should be warned that their union could still be considered invalid if a judge finds that Hall did not have the authority to issue them in a subsequent trial.

Hall has issued over 100 same-sex marriage licenses since the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Colorado and five other US states, found bans of same-sex marriage unconstitutional in a case concerning Utah. 

On Wednesday, a judge in Colorado overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, only to put his own judgement on hold until it is backed-up by a court with greater authority. 

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