SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Supreme Court has indicated it will take up Utah’s same-sex marriage case on Sept. 29, which could decide the issue for the rest of the nation.
On the docket for the case Kitchen v. Herbert, the U.S. Supreme Court set Sept. 29 for a conference on the case, alongside those of other states litigating same-sex marriage bans.
From the U.S. Supreme Court docket:
The decision was announced the same day Utah filed its final brief in the case, insisting it was “the best vehicle available for resolving the question presented.”
“As Utah’s top-ranking executive and law-enforcement officials, the Governor and Attorney General are best positioned to articulate the state’s interest, unlike ministerial state actors with no independent authority to speak on the state’s behalf or duty to represent all of its residents,” the state wrote.
Read the filing here:
In a statement to FOX 13, lawyers for the three gay couples suing Utah over its marriage ban agreed.
“It is time to end the legal bans that keep committed couples from standing up and making the unique pledges of marriage to each other—pledges that would allow their families protection and security everywhere in this country,” said Mary Bonauto, the lawyer for Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, who is part of the legal team for the plaintiffs.
READ ALL THE COURT FILINGS IN THE AMENDMENT 3 CASE HERE
Utah is asking the nation’s top court to hear its appeal of two courts’ opinions overturning Amendment 3, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman and doesn’t recognize anything else. Last year, a federal judge declared it unconstitutional, ruling it violated gay and lesbian couples’ rights to equal protection under the U.S. Constitution.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled Amendment 3 unconstitutional.
