I've got some updates on a few things I talked about last week.First up is Utah. As I imagine you heard, the Supreme Court has put a stay on the ruling that the state's ban on same-sex marriage violates the federal Constitution.
The stay, which allows the state to refuse to issue any marriage licenses to same-sex couples, is to stay in place until the 10th Circuit Appeals Court issues its own ruling on the case.
The case is on a fast track: The first briefs from the state are due on January 27. However, no date has been set for oral arguments and it could easily be months before a decision is handed down. In the meantime, the place that only banned polygamy and plural marriages because it was a requirement to become a state but now wants to enforce "traditional marriage" can throw same-sex couples who got married during the interregnum back into the black hole of discrimination as the governor declares the state will not recognize same-sex marriages performed in that time.
The state's request to the Supreme Court for the stay was filed with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who handles emergency appeals from the 10th Circuit. Sotomayor, for reasons unknown but which I suspect was a desire to avoid any flak, turned the matter over to the entire court, which issued an unsigned order, which technically tells us nothing about the justices' views on the issue: the decision may have been unanimous or it may be that the dissenters just chose to not file a written dissent.
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/06/utah-gay-marriage_n_4548931.html
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57357406-78/court-utah-state-stay.html.csp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Utah#Polygamy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/08/utah-gay-marriage_n_4562488.html
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