Litigation

Judge Puts Gay Marriages on Short Hold

By Peter Hardin

Federal Judge Vaughn R. Walker has agreed to give sponsors of California’s same-sex marriage ban until Aug. 18 to  appeal to a federal appeals court his ruling that struck down the ban.

Judge Walker  lifted his earlier stay of his decision, prompting euphoria in San Francisco, the New York Times reported, yet he put off implementation of this action for six days. That means that his sharply controversial ruling continues on hold, temporarily. It has drawn a strong backlash in some conservative circles (see Gavel Grab).

The district judge made public his order on Thursday, after backers of the voter-approved Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage had said they would go to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary to get his recent ruling blocked, according to a Los Angeles Times article.

California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and attorney general, Jerry Brown, had pressed for Judge Walker to let same-sex marriages proceed.

Under Judge Walker’s order on Thursday, gay marriages would be able to go forward in California if the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has not acted by 5 p.m. on Aug. 18, the Associated Press reported. The order is available by clicking here (with thanks to SCOTUSblog for the link).

Full post as published by The Gavel on August 12, 2010 (boomark / email).