US: Couples reject Utah request for more time to appeal against same-sex marriage

Couples in the US state of Utah have expressed opposition to the state’s request to have more time to file its appeal.

The state had requested extra time to file its appeal with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals after being instructed to recognise some 1,300 married couples in the state.

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), filed a motion which said the state had not met the requirements which would have allowed its deadline to be extended to 22 October.

“They have had since January of this year, when this case was filed, to deliberate about the issues presented here and have undoubtedly already done much of the required research and writing needed,” wrote John Mejia, an ACLU of Utah attorney who represents the couples.

Last December, a federal judge ruled that Utah’s same-sex marriage ban violated the US Constitution.The ruling prompted a seventeen day period where couples were able to marry in the state of Utah.

On 6 January, the US Supreme Court put a stay on ruling in Utah, forbidding same-sex couples from being issued marriage licenses in the state.

In June, Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage was again found to be unconstitutional by the federal court. A three-judge panel from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that the state’s current ban on same-sex marriage violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.

More than 1,000 same-sex couples rushed to get married as occurred in December before the Supreme Court once again intervened and stopped the marriages, pending an appeal.

Following this ruling an appeals court ruled that Utah must begin to recognise the marriages of the hundreds of same-sex couples who have already married in the state.

Voters in Utah approved the state’s ban in 2004.

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