COLORADO: AG Asks Tenth Circuit To Continue Stay Until SCOTUS Rules

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers yesterday asked the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to continue the stay on same-sex marriage in his state until the Supreme Court rules on the cases before it from Utah and Oklahoma.

Although a divided panel of the Tenth Circuit has ruled that Utah’s and Oklahoma’s bans and non-recognition of same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, those constitutional questions, which are also at-issue in this case, are and will remain unsettled until the Tenth Circuit’s decisions in Kitchen and Bishop become final in one of two ways, namely: (a) the Supreme Court denies a petition for writ of certiorari and the Tenth Circuit issues its mandates; or (b) the Supreme Court grants the petitions for writ of certiorari and issues final decisions. Without question, the Supreme Court’s determination of the constitutional questions concerning same-sex marriage will directly bear on and control this case. If the Supreme Court accepts Utah’s and Oklahoma’s arguments, or otherwise allows those states to enforce traditional definitions of marriage, Plaintiffs’ claims in this case will fail as a consequence.

Read the full request via Equality Case Files.

UPDATE: Equality Case Files adds in the comments: "This motion asks for more than a stay; the AG wants the Colorado appeal put completely on hold - no briefing, nothing. - until SCOTUS resolves the other 10th Circuit cases (Utah and Oklahoma)."