Supreme Court allows Kansas same-sex marriages to proceed
The U.S. Supreme Court ended the hold on same-sex marriages in Kansas Wednesday, thus allowing same-sex nuptials to proceed in the state.
In an order issued this afternoon, the nation’s highest court denied the request for a stay by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt of a lower court ruling striking the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.
Schmidt had filed the request with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who oversees the 10th Circuit. Sotomayor issued a temporary stay while the request was considered and referred the stay request to the entire Supreme Court. The order notes that Supreme Court Justices Anthonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas would have granted the stay.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Crabtree issued an Election Day ruling striking down the state’s same-sex marriage ban. Crabtree issued a temporary stay of his decision until 5 p.m. central time on Nov. 11. On Friday, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to grant an emergency stay of the ruling.
Kansas is one of the states in a circuit impacted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month declining to hear arguments in cases challenging same-sex marriage bans in five states — Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana and Wisconsin — thus allowing lower court decisions legalizing marriage equality in those states to stand. Because the Supreme Court left intact rulings by the 4th Circuit, 7th Circuit and 10th Circuit Courts of Appeals striking down same-sex marriage bans in those five states, those appeals courts’ decisions applied to six other states in those three circuits: West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming.
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