Legal News

10 Republican Attorneys General ask for stay on same-sex marriage ruling

By Jason Siegel

Ten Republican state attorneys general sent papers asking the California Supreme Court to stay its ruling on same-sex marriage until November.

Cal Law's Legal Pad provides the attorney generals' letter to the state high court here.

The attorneys general* claimed a postponement would save them unnecessary litigation, should several hypotheticals come to fruition:

• same-sex couples from their respective states get married in California before November
• the proposed ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage goes to a vote in November
• the proposed ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage is passed

If Californians vote down the initiative, the attorneys general said they'd see such litigation as "necessary and unavoidable."

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera criticized the statement, saying that a delay "based on political conjecture as to whether or not an amendment will pass - or even qualify for the ballot - would be both unprecedented and inhumane," in a press release.

*from Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on June 02, 2008 (boomark / email).