Colorado Judge Overturns Same-Sex Marriage Ban But Stays Ruling

Two plaintiffs in a lawsuit to overturn Colordo's gay marriage ban, Cassie Rubald, left, and her partner, Rachel Catt, hold hands during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in downtown Denver on Tuesday,... Two plaintiffs in a lawsuit to overturn Colordo's gay marriage ban, Cassie Rubald, left, and her partner, Rachel Catt, hold hands during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in downtown Denver on Tuesday, July 1, 2014. Six gay couples filed the lawsuit to ask for an injunction to stop all officials from enforcing the ban on gay marriage in Colorado. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) MORE LESS
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A district court judge declared Colorado’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional on Wednesday, but immediately stayed his ruling.

Adams County District Judge C. Scott Crabtree wrote that Colorado’s voter-approved ban on gay marriage “bears no rational relationship to any conceivable government interest,” as quoted by The Denver Post.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers’ office plans to appeal the ruling, according to the newspaper.

Crabtree is the 16th judge to toss out a state’s same-sex marriage ban since the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government must recognize gay marriages.

The decision in Colorado came on the same day that the neighboring state of Utah decided to go straight to the Supreme Court to appeal a ruling that gay couples have a constitutional right to marry.

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  1. The first time or two this happened, I popped open a bottle of champagne to celebrate. If I were to do that now, I would be snockered most of the time. Think I’ll wait to celebrate until the final state.

  2. This will happen over and over again—and the appeals will all fail, too.

  3. That might be several months away, but in the meantime, it’s still fun to have a drink or two when it happens in a deep red state.

  4. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers’ office plans to appeal the ruling, according to the newspaper.

    Can someone with legal expertise answer a question for me? The 10th Circuit Court just ruled (stayed pending appeal) against Utah’s ban. So, to whom will the Colorado AG be appealing? The 10th Circuit again? And aren’t they likely to simply say, “no, we just talked about this”? I understand that there is another case before the 10th CC regarding the Oklahoma ban, but those proceedings began before the recent ruling which basically said that state-level constitutional bans are unconstitutional.

  5. Yeah, John, waste your taxpayers’ money appealing this, when cases of this type are undefeated.

    AND, there is already an appeals court that has okay’d it.

    If teabaggers were really anti-tax, they would be screaming for him to give this up.

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