Attorneys representing three same sex couples in Utah asked the U.S. Supreme Court today not to grant the state’s request to stop gay marriages.
Thebrief asserts that stopping gay marriages now would cause serious harm to the more than 900 same sex couples who have exchanged vows since U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby delivered his ruling on December 20th. Carl Tobias is a constitutional law professor at the University of Richmond. He says the plaintiff’s brief questions whether the Supreme Court has cause to grant a stay.
“The plaintiff’s attorneys did a nice job countering most the arguments made by the state of Utah in the papers filed earlier this week, especially focusing on the requirements for the stay at the Supreme Court level after the Tenth Circuit had already denied a stay request on three different occasions and Judge Shelby had as well,” says Tobias.
It is now up to Justice Sonia Sotomayor to decide whether or not to grant the stay or ask the entire court to make the decision. The plaintiff’s brief also challenges a claim made in Utah’s stay motion that asserts children raised by heterosexual couples are better off than those raised by same sex couples.