WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request to halt same-sex marriages in Oregon. The court's order gave no reasons.
Many gay and lesbian couples have gotten married in Oregon since a May 19 decision from Judge Michael J. McShane of the Federal District Court in Eugene, Ore., struck down the state's ban on such marriages.
State officials declined to appeal Judge McShane's decision. Oregon's attorney general, Ellen F. Rosenblum, told the court that 'there is no rational basis on which to defend the state's same-sex marriage ban.'
The request to the Supreme Court that the decision be stayed came instead from the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage.
The organization's brief reminded the justices that they had issued a stay in January of a federal trial judge's ruling allowing same-sex marriages in Utah. But that request had come from state officials.
In declining to grant its request for a stay, the justices may have harbored doubt about whether the group had suffered the sort of direct injury to give it standing in the case.
Last June, the Supreme Court ruled that proponents of Proposition 8, a voter initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California, did not have standing to appeal from a ruling striking it down.
In a companion decision issued the same day, the court struck down the part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that barred the federal government from granting benefits to married same-sex couples.
That second decision, United States v. Windsor, has provided the basis for an unbroken string of victories for gay rights advocates, as trial judges around the nation have cited it in striking down state bans on same-sex marriage.
Decisions from federal appeals courts in some of those cases are expected shortly, and the question of whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage could return to the Supreme Court in its next term, which starts in October.
Entities 0 Name: Supreme Court Count: 4 1 Name: Oregon Count: 3 2 Name: Judge Michael J. McShane Count: 1 3 Name: Ore. Count: 1 4 Name: Judge McShane Count: 1 5 Name: Federal District Court Count: 1 6 Name: Utah Count: 1 7 Name: Ellen F. Rosenblum Count: 1 8 Name: WASHINGTON Count: 1 9 Name: National Organization for Marriage Count: 1 10 Name: California Count: 1 11 Name: United States v. Windsor Count: 1 12 Name: Eugene Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1mbxYta Title: On Fox, The Gay Marriage Revolution Has Not Been Televised Description: In the year since the Supreme Court invalidated the core of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in United States v. Windsor, over a dozen district courts have struck down state laws prohibiting same-sex marriage, marking a historic shift in the legal debate over marriage equality.
