Update, 11:30 a.m. Sunday: The Associated Press is reporting that U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy has denied, without comment, a petition from supporters of Proposition 8 to set aside a Friday appeals court order that allowed the immediate resumption of gay and lesbian weddings across California.
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Prop. 8 proponents had no standing to challenge a 2010 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker that found the same-sex marriage ban violated the Constitution's equal protection guarantees. Walker's order had been stayed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco pending the outcome of the case, on which the Supreme Court heard arguments in March. The 9th Circuit dissolved the stay on Friday, meaning Prop. 8 no longer has any legal force in California. That touched off a wave of same-sex weddings in San Francisco, Los Angeles and elsewhere.
Prop. 8 supporters petitioned Kennedy, the justice who oversees issues in the 9th Circuit, to reverse the appeals court action. They argued that the appeals panel lacked the authority to lift the stay because it had not yet received a certified copy of the high court's opinion. They said ending the stay denied them a chance to ask the Supreme Court for a rehearing of the case.
Original post (Saturday, June 29): Proponents of Proposition 8, the ban on marriage passed by California voters in 2008, asked the U.S. Supreme Court today to immediately stop same-sex weddings that resumed in San Francisco and throughout the state yesterday in the wake of a high court ruling earlier this week.
The Scottsdale, Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom filed an emergency request on behalf of Prop. 8 sponsors DefendMarriage with Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, who oversees requests pertaining to the federal courts' 9th Circuit, which includes California.