KANSAS: State Petitions SCOTUS For Emergency Marriage Stay Pending Appeal UPDATE: Sonia Sotomayor Issues Stay

Taking things right down to the wire, the state of Kansas just demanded that SCOTUS grant an emergency stay on same-sex marriages pending the hearing of their appeal. Marriages are due to commence statewide at 5PM tomorrow. On Friday the Tenth Circuit Court denied the same request, so now we might get a hint of what will come when the Court hears the cases out the Sixth Circuit.  The Tenth is under the jurisdiction of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, but if recent actions are a guide, she will refer the stay request to the full Court. Read today's demand.

UPDATE: SCOTUSblog weighs in.

This marked the first time that the same-sex marriage issue has returned to the Court since a split developed in the federal appeals courts on the power of states to ban such unions. The Kansas application made heavy use of the decision last Thursday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, upholding bans in four states in that circuit. The text of the Sixth Circuit decision was filed along with the application; that will put it before the Justices for the first time, but it is not directly under review at this point; appeals from it are likely to be filed later this week. The filing attempted to show that the Kansas case is different from other cases that the Supreme Court has declined to review and refused to delay, contending that a federal judge’s decision striking down that state’s ban conflicted with a previous decision by the Kansas Supreme Court, blocking the issuance of marriage licenses.

UPDATE II: This might not not bode well.

UPDATE III: But the stay may be very brief. Per Chris Geidner: "Sotomayor has issued a stay of the district court’s injunction in the Kansas same-sex marriage case until 'further order' by Sotomayor or the full Supreme Court. Sotomayor also called for a response to Kansas’ request for a stay pending appeal by 5 p.m. Tuesday."