Colorado’s attorney general has given the Boulder County Clerk’s Office until noon Tuesday to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
The Denver Post reported that Attorney General John Suthers’ office proposed a deal of sorts in a letter sent Friday. Suthers’ office would not pursue further action against Boulder County if Clerk Hillary Hall stopped issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples before the deadline. Instead, it would move swiftly to file a joint petition asking the Colorado Supreme Court to decide whether Hall had the legal authority to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
“As things currently stand, nobody can be happy,” Solicitor General Dan Domenico wrote in the letter.
Hall’s office has issued 70 same-sex marriage licenses since last Wednesday, when a federal appeals court affirmed a lower court ruling that struck down Utah’s ban on gay marriage, according to the Post. No other counties have issued same-sex marriage licenses in Colorado.
The Boulder County Attorney has requested that Hall be given until July 10 to respond to Suthers’ office, according to Denver TV station KMGH.
Hall declined to comment on the proposal Monday, according to the Post. In a statement issued Friday, however, she challenged the attorney general’s argument that same-sex marriage licenses were invalid in Colorado.
“It seems to me that, if someone — even the Attorney General — wanted to challenge a marriage license issued by an elected county clerk in Colorado they would need to do that in court,” Hall said, as quoted by the Post. “Given the 10th Circuit’s recent decision and the numerous other cases on this issue, I would be surprised if a judge in Colorado were willing to invalidate a marriage license simply because the parties to the marriage were the same sex.”
