Mississippi, Arkansas same-sex marriage bans fall (UPDATED)

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Scotus Blog: Mississippi, Arkansas same-sex marriage bans fall (UPDATED)

By Lyle Denniston on Nov 26, 2014 at 12:11 am

UPDATED Wednesday 12:11 a.m. The wave of federal court rulings against state bans on same-sex marriage swept into the Deep South on Tuesday, as a federal judge in Mississippi struck down that state’s prohibition. In a fervent defense of the role of the courts in protecting individual rights against majority voter sentiment, and a lengthy critique of Mississippi’s history against gay rights, U.S. District Judge Carlton Wayne Reeves of Jackson found the ban to be a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of equality. He put his ruling on hold for two weeks to allow the state to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, where conflicting rulings from Louisiana (upholding a ban) and Texas (nullifying a ban) are already pending. (The post below discusses a ruling in Arkansas earlier in the day.)

 

———-Refusing to postpone acting until state courts rule on the issue, a federal judge in Little Rock on Tuesday struck down the Arkansas ban on same-sex marriage.

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Lyle Denniston Reporter

Posted Thu, December 4th, 2014 5:39 pm

Same-sex marriages delayed in Mississippi

A federal judge’s order that would have permitted same-sex couples in Mississippi to get married next week will not go into effect. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, saying that a detailed examination of the constitutional question is needed, on Thursdayordered a postponement of any such marriages while the state’s appeal goes forward on an expedited schedule. The judge’s order would have taken effect December 9.

 

Meanwhile, in an order on Wednesday that clouds the situation in Florida, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit refused that state’s request to extend a postponement beyond January 5, the day when marriages could begin there under a federal judge’s order. The actual situation over the next few weeks is somewhat unclear, however, because a series of state court rulings against Florida’s ban are on hold in different parts of the state, while higher state courts review the issue. Florida officials have the option of asking the Supreme Court to delay the federal court case.

 

The appeals courts handling the Mississippi and Florida cases are among the last at that level to take up the same-sex marriage issue

 

 

http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/12/same-sex-marriages-delayed-in-mississippi/