U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier declared the ban unconstitutional last month but also put legal same-sex marriages on hold. Minneapolis attorney Josh Newville filed a motion Tuesday to set aside that stay on grounds it doesn’t take into consideration other cases in which the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples while those cases were appealed.
The South Dakotans involved have waited long enough and should not have to wait for the judicial process, Newville said.
“Since October, the Supreme Court has consistently and repeatedly declined to enter a stay on judgment while the appeals process unwinds,” he said in a telephone interview. “It is fundamentally unfair and logically inconsistent to deny South Dakotans the freedom to marry while, meanwhile, marriage equality is a real thing in Alabama and Florida.”
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a request to consider appeals from South Dakota, Arkansas and Missouri that positions itself to weigh in before an expected U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could settle whether same-sex couples can marry nationwide. The 8th Circuit hearing is scheduled for week of May 11 in Omaha, Nebraska.
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A federal judge struck down Alabama’s ban on gay marriage, but probate judges are having to decide whether to oblige and issue licenses or follow an order from Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore telling them not to allow the unions.
A copy of the motion is here →
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