WASHINGTON — Same-sex couples should be allowed to marry in Idaho during any attempted appeal by the state of an appeals court ruling that the ban on such marriages is unconstitutional, lawyers for couples suing the state argued Thursday.
In a filing with Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, lawyers for the couples stated:
On Monday of this week, the Court denied seven petitions for writs of certiorari seeking review of judgments from three courts of appeals that together held that five States' prohibitions on marriages by same-sex couples violate those couples' Fourteenth Amendment rights. Absent any intervening development, there is no reason to believe that applicants' contemplated petition for a writ of certiorari—which, absent such a development, respondents plan to oppose—will meet any different fate.
On Wednesday morning, Idaho officials asked for the stay in a filing at the Supreme Court directed to Kennedy, who hears stay applications from out of the 9th Circuit. In response, Kennedy granted a temporary stay while considering the state's request.
Idaho officials replied to the same-sex couple plaintiffs in a filing at the Supreme Court on Friday morning.
