A federal judge in Colorado (Judge Moore) has issued a preliminary injunction in the marriage equality case in that state, enjoining the state defendants from enforcing the same-sex marriage ban in the state. It also means that the judge is likely to find the ban unconstitutional, but he has stayed further proceedings in this case until the Kitchen case (out of Utah and already ruled on in the Tenth Circuit) is resolved. The Utah state defendants have indicated that they will file a motion for cert. with the SCOTUS.
Judge Moore also issued a temporary stay of his injunction till August 25 to give the state defendants a chance to seek a stay from a higher court (Tenth Circuit or SCOTUS). The motion for a stay pending appeal was denied.
From abcnews and the AP:
A federal judge in Denver has declared Colorado's gay marriage ban unconstitutional, but he issued a temporary stay of the ruling to give the state a chance to appeal.
Judge Raymond P. Moore's ruling Wednesday was in response to a lawsuit filed July 1 by six gay couples who asked the court for an injunction ordering that the state's ban no longer be enforced.
Colorado Republican Attorney General John Suthers and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper had requested a stay so the issue could eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court — though both agreed the state ban should be declared unconstitutional.
The couples filed the lawsuit after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled against Utah's gay marriage ban but put the ruling on hold pending an appeal.
You can read the ruling
here.
From Freedom To Marry:
Freedom to Marry founder and president Evan Wolfson explained more:
Judge Moore did the right thing today, both by the Constitution and by Colorado values. This is the second court decision in favor of the freedom to marry just in Colorado - and across the country, judge after judge, court after court, in state after state have all examined the evidence and sifted through the arguments and concluded that the denial of marriage to same-sex couples cannot stand. It's time for the state attorney general to stop spending taxpayer money to defend the indefensible and allow gay couples to wed now.