US: Utah’s Attorney General files appeal to uphold same-sex marriage ban

Utah’s Republican Attorney General Sean Reyes, has filed a US Supreme Court appeal asking for a judicial review of a federal appeals court ruling that struck down Utah’s same-sex marriage ban.

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.

The attorney general’s office stated: “Attorney General Sean Reyes has a sworn duty to defend the laws of our state.”

If the court agrees to hear the attorney general’s appeal, it could lead to a ruling of national scope on the legality of gay marriage bans and affect the thousands of same-sex couples who were married in December.

The states federal courts remain pro-marriage but the final decision will come after the pending US Supreme Court appeal is heard.

• Dec 01 2023

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