BREAKING: Ark. Supreme Court Halts Marriage Equality
Source: The Advocate
After a tumultuous week where marriage equality was embraced in fits and starts throughout Arkansas, the state's Supreme Court has placed a stay on a lower judge's ruling that invalidated the existing bans on same-sex marriage, according to the Arkansas Times.
Handed down at 4:30 p.m. local time, the court's ruling essentially restores existing state law, which defines marriage solely as the union of a man or a woman. The one-sentence order granting the state's request for a stay, joined by four counties seeking clarity, does not appear to address the legal status of the estimated 500 marriages that have taken place between same-sex couples in Arkansas since state district judge Chris Piazza delivered his initial ruling Friday.
Piazza's May 9 ruling struck down the state's constitutional and statutory prohibitions on same-sex marriage. However, several county clerks argued that the local ruling did not apply to their counties, noting that Piazza's ruling left intact another state law that prohibited county clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. On Thursday, Piazza issued a clarified order, striking down that errant law and confirming that he did, indeed, intend to invalidate all existing state laws that limited marriage to opposite-sex couples. Still, county clerks were hesitant, with Pulaski County being the only district to resume issuing licenses to couples regardless of gender Thursday afternoon.
Now that the Supreme Court has granted the stay, it will consider the state's appeal of Piazza's ruling, though it did not announce a schedule for when those arguments would be heard. The Arkansas Times notes that:
Read more: http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2014/05/16/ark-supreme-court-halts-marriage-equality
One day yes, one day no, one day yes, one day no. What a fucking circus!
LeftofObama
(4,243 posts)This yes/no/let's wait and see/not yet/someday soon bull crap is really annoying!
William769
(55,124 posts)Until then, this is what we have to live with.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)steam is picking up.
GentryDixon
(2,944 posts)We are facing the same fight in Utah. Why can't these people just leave us to live our lives as we see fit? I am a straight woman, married to the same man for almost 45 years, but I grieve for my brothers & sisters in this fight.
William769
(55,124 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)William769
(55,124 posts)Typical.
William769
(55,124 posts)sheshe2
(83,336 posts)I am so sorry for this set back. It's just not right.
William769
(55,124 posts)iandhr
(6,852 posts)Sometimes you move backwards.
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)permanently.
So...the fight for fairness never ends.
warrior1
(12,325 posts)Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)tofuandbeer
(1,314 posts)At 4:30pm on a Friday? What a joke. Bastards.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)I think this is a temporary set back (I hope I'm right). Momentum is building in the positive direction. Keep up the fight and know us straight (but not narrow) folks are right there with you.
Cannikin
(8,359 posts)But they'll never take our day away from us. I will keep fighting to make sure other couples get to have the same experience my new husband and I got to share on Monday.
csziggy
(34,120 posts)davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I'd almost taken as a given that when a court overturns a law like this it probably is going to be stayed.
Eventually some of these cases are going to have to go before SCOTUS. Maybe SCOTUS won't chicken out in their decision next time around and half do their job. Granted the ruling was good news for California, but had it been a broader ruling it could have helped so many other states.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)These delays are maddening and so unnecessary!