Supreme Court Lifts Hold on Same-Sex Marriage in Kansas
Gay and lesbian couples can get married in Kansas after the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s request to halt a judge’s order that instructed counties to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
A federal district judge ruled last week that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law, and ordered county court clerks to cease enforcing it.
The judge’s ruling was supposed to go into effect Tuesday, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor temporarily put it on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed the case after Schmidt filed a petition to stay the order while the state appeals the ruling.
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