The Republican Attorney General of Utah has just announced he is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that upheld a lower court’s decision that found the Beehive State’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
In what may be a dramatic display of overconfidence, Sean Reyes has just announced he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court ruling that found his state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Reyes was recently appointed attorney general by Republican Governor Gary Herbert after a scandal took down the previous AG. Since then, he has missed a filing deadline in the same-sex marriage case and Gov. Herbert has announced he will pay outside counsel to argue to retain Utah’s same-sex marriage ban.
And Reyes has stated, through his office’s spokesperson, that he will accept only the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage.
“Utah’s Constitutional Amendment 3 is presumed to be constitutional unless the highest court deems otherwise,” Missy Larsen, Reyes’ spokesperson, said in a statement emailed to reporters. “Attorney General Reyes has a sworn duty to defend the laws of our state,” she added.
Larsen explained that AG Reyes will not bother to take the next step — a review of the ruling by a panel of the 10th Circuit, known as an en banc review.
“To obtain clarity and resolution from the highest court, the Utah Attorney General’s Office will not seek en banc review of the Kitchen v. Herbert Tenth Circuit decision, but will file a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court in the coming weeks.”
The Washington Blade notes that the Utah case could be the one the Supreme Court chooses to decide the fate of marriage across the nation.
“Once the petition for a writ of certiorari is filed, the Supreme Court will decide whether or not to take up the case,” the Blade’s Chris Johnson reports. “It may be the first such petition filed before the Supreme Court in a marriage case following the ruling against the Defense of Marriage Act last year. LGBT advocates are expecting the court to take up at least one of the marriage cases in anticipation of a court ruling next year on nationwide marriage equality.”
Â
Image by HRC via Twitter