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U.S. Appeals Court Issues Temporary Stay In Same Sex Marriage Case

Posted at 5:07 PM, Mar 22, 2014
and last updated 2014-03-22 17:09:52-04
County Clerks and Same-Sex Marriage

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CINCINNATI, Ohio (March 22, 2014)- According to The Detroit News,  The U.S. Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit (Michigan. Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee) has issued a temporary stay on Michigan’s same-sex marriage case until Wednesday.

“To allow a more reasoned consideration of the motion to stay, it is ordered that the district court’s judgment is temporarily stayed until Wednesday,” the order read.

Earlier on Saturday, the appeals court issued an order directing the attorneys for the same-sex couple who had sought to get married to respond to Attorney General Bill Schuette’s request for an emergency stay by noon Tuesday.

It is unknown at this time which three-judge panel has been assigned to the hear the emergency appeal.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman Friday struck down Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage.

In a 31-page ruling,Friedman declares the ban unconstitutional because it violates “the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

Less than an hour after the ruling was reported, Attorney General Bill Schuette released a statement saying his office was seeking an emergency stay and appeal of the federal ruling.

“In 2004 the citizens of Michigan recognized that diversity in parenting is best for kids and families because moms and dads are not interchangeable,” he said in a release.  “Michigan voters enshrined that decision in our state constitution, and their will should stand and be respected. “

Following Friedman’s ruling, Michigan became the 18th state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage.

Those other states are: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.