SCOTUSblog: Arizona's Ban Likely To Fall

Lyle Denniston writes at SCOTUSblog:

A federal judge in Phoenix has taken an initial step toward allowing same-sex marriage in that state, indicating that he is likely to strike down the state’s ban when he rules on it soon. Senior U.S. District Judge John W. Sedwick, overseeing two cases involving some fifteen gay and lesbian couples, ruled Friday on only one part of that case, but left little doubt where his overall review was heading. In his fourteen-page order, he ruled that state officials must treat a gay couple as having been married when one of the partners died this summer. Thus, the death certificate must show that they were married at that time, according to the decision. In the course of that ruling, though, the judge offered a range of observations that seem sure to doom Arizona’s ban when he does confront that issue directly.

And then it will be stayed.