Emergency request filed on Wednesday goes to Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Same-sex couples, accompanied by their friends and family members, line up to get marriage licenses at the Salt Lake County Government Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, December 23, 2013.
Jim Urquhart / Reuters
WASHINGTON — Utah officials are asking the Supreme Court to put an order that the state recognize the marriages it granted to same-sex couples on hold while it appeals the case.
The "emergency application" goes to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, but state officials have asked her to refer the request to the entire court if she is "disinclined to grant the requested relief."
Both the trial court judge who had ordered the state to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples granted following the December 20, 2013 ruling that the state's ban on such marriages is unconstitutional and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to issue a stay of the ruling during the appeal. Both courts, however, gave state officials a window to seek a stay from a higher court before the order goes into effect.
The 10th Circuit's temporary stay "window" ends at 10 a.m. July 21. As such, it is likely that either Sotomayor or the full court will act before then on the request or, more likely, to extend the stay temporarily while considering Utah's request.
