SALT LAKE CITY — Lawyers for the gay couples who sued Utah over its ban on same-sex marriage tell FOX 13 they support the state’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights said Thursday it intends to file papers with the nation’s top court, supporting the Utah Attorney General’s petition for the same-sex marriage case to be heard. The gay rights group, which is backing the plaintiffs in the Amendment 3 case, said it believes the U.S. Supreme Court should hear the case.
As the Amendment 3 case is considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, the NCLR said it was adding former acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal to its legal team.
Utah filed a petition earlier this week, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider its appeal of two lower court rulings that struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Last year, a federal judge here in Utah struck down Amendment 3, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman and does not recognize anything else.
More than 1,200 same-sex couples wed in Utah for 17 days until the U.S. Supreme Court halted it, pending the state’s appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
Last month, the 10th Circuit Court also declared Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
