|
 Hours after agreeing to Idaho's request for a temporary stay,
Kennedy clarified that his ruling did not apply to Nevada, where
officials have indicated they are ready to embrace gay marriage and
have no plan to challenge Tuesday's ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals.
The high court said supporters of gay marriage in Idaho should file
a response to the state's request for a stay by 5 p.m. EDT on
Thursday. The court would then decide whether to issue a more
permanent stay but gay marriages will not proceed in the meantime.
"I'm pleased that Justice Kennedy has given us the opportunity to
make our case in a way that helps avoid the confusion some other
states have faced," said Idaho's Republican Governor, C.L. "Butch"
Otter, who has called the 9th Circuit ruling "disappointing."
Later on Wednesday, the legal fight took another twist when gay
marriage opponents in Nevada filed their own application with the
Supreme Court asking Kennedy to block weddings there.
Kennedy, who is the Supreme Court justice assigned to deal with
emergency applications from states covered by the 9th Circuit, could
act on that request at any time.
The legal twists and turns left uncertainty over whether marriage
licenses could be issued to gay couples in Nevada. Clerks in
southern Nevada's Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, and in
Washoe County in northern Nevada said they were not issuing licenses
for the moment.
"I haven't gotten that word from my counsel yet and apparently
people are still wildly filing documents," said Washoe County Clerk
Nancy Parent. "Why put people in jeopardy?"
Separately, the 9th Circuit asked the parties to submit court papers
by 5 p.m. PDT (midnight GMT) on Thursday on whether that court
should temporarily block gay marriage in Nevada.
ELATION TURNS TO SADNESS
Renee McCall, pastor of an Idaho church geared toward the lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender community, said elation turned to
sadness on Wednesday as she and dozens of others rallied in Boise to
celebrate the issue of marriage licenses to same-sex couples only to
learn they would not be forthcoming.
"People were waiting in line to get licenses and they were smiling
and congratulating each other. When the decision came down, many
broke down in tears. It was a very, very sad moment," she said.
[to top of second column]
|
Wednesday's move by the Supreme Court follows its announcement on
Monday that the nine justices would leave intact regional federal
appeals court rulings that overturned gay marriage prohibitions in
five states. The high court's action, taken together with the 9th
Circuit ruling the following day, means there could soon be 35
states with gay marriage, up from 19 at the beginning of the week.
That would leave 15 states with bans in place.
But the ups and downs in the 9th Circuit case did not stop others
from taking advantage of the momentum on gay marriage.
In South Carolina, where gay marriage is banned, a judge said he
would issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple on Thursday
unless a higher court stops him.
Charleston County Probate Judge Irvin Condon accepted an application
from the lesbian couple on Wednesday and said he plans to issue it
after the mandatory 24-hour waiting period.
And in Kansas, which also prohibits same-sex nuptials, Judge Kevin
Moriarty of the Johnson County District Court told the county clerk
on Wednesday to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, an assistant
to the judge said. Johnson County, which borders Kansas City, is the
state's most populous county.
(Additional reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho, Sandra
Chereb in Carson City, Nevada, Alexia Shurmur in Las Vegas, Harriet
McLeod in Charleston, and Fiona Ortiz in Chicago; Editing by Will
Dunham, Matthew Lewis, Frances Kerry, Diane Craft and Lisa Shumaker)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
