Supremes Decline to Stop Gay Marriage in Oregon
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to block gay marriages in Oregon.
In a terse, one-sentence order, the court rejected a request by the National Organization for Marriage to put on ice the May 19 federal court ruling allowing gays and lesbians to marry in Oregon.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, who rules on emergency cases in the western region of Oregon, referred the issue to the full court, which then declined to get involved in the Oregon case.
The Supreme Court's action removed a potential legal cloud hanging over same-sex marriages and will likely lead advocates of gay marriage to drop a proposed ballot measure on the issue that they had once planned to take to voters in November.
"I think it's a foregone conclusion we'll not be filing those signatures" on an initiative that would affirm the right to same-sex marriage in Oregon, said David Fidanque, executive director of the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU is one of the backers of the initiative and participated in the legal case that led to U.S. District Judge Michael McShane's decision overturning the 2004 constitutional amendment approved by voters that limited marriage to one man and one woman.
John Eastman, chairman and attorney for the National Organization for Marriage, said he thought the procedural hurdles facing his group led the Supreme Court to reject its appeal.
The anti-gay marriage group has been fighting, so far without success, for the right to intervene in the Oregon case. NOM has argued that it should be able to offer a defense of Oregon's constitutional language banning same-sex marriage because Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has declined to do so.
Eastman said NOM will continue its effort to get the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
— Jeff Mapes
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