Same-sex marriage opponents file US Supreme Court appeal

Source:AFP Published: 2013-7-1 0:18:01

A group behind efforts to uphold California's ban on same-sex marriage announced Saturday an emergency petition had been filed to the US Supreme Court to get the ban reinstated.

On Friday, California's Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco lifted the ban on same-sex marriages, imposed under the so-called Prop 8 ballot measure, with immediate effect.

The first weddings were held within hours for the two couples who challenged the ban.

Just days earlier, the nation's top court had ruled supporters of Prop 8 lacked the proper standing to appeal a lower-court judgment that declared the measure unconstitutional.

The ruling essentially allowed the original federal court ruling to stand, striking down Prop 8.

But supporters of the ban, including ProtectMarriage.com, which backed legal efforts to uphold it, said the reinstatement of same-sex marriages was too hasty.

The Ninth Circuit court should have waited until at least 25 days after the Supreme Court ruling, ProtectMarriage.com said in a statement Saturday.

It argued that the appeals court had originally promised to wait until "final disposition" before lifting its injunction on same-sex marriages.

"Under Supreme Court procedural rules, 'final disposition' comes when the Supreme Court issues a 'mandate' to the Ninth Circuit, at least 25 days after announcing its opinion in the case.

"The 25-day waiting period is provided to allow parties such as Prop 8's proponents to petition the Supreme Court for a re-hearing of the case," the statement said.

"People on both sides of this debate should at least agree that the courts must follow their own rules," said ProtectMarriage.com coalition lawyer Andy Pugno in the statement.

"This kind of lawlessness just further weakens the public's confidence in the legitimacy of our legal system."

AFP

Posted in: Americas

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