Friday, May 16, 2014

Breaking News: Arkansas Supremes Stay Same-Sex Marriages in One-Sentence Ruling



In case you haven't seen the news, the Arkansas Supreme Court chose a little while ago to stay all same-sex marriages in the state. The ruling states,


STATE DEFENDANTS.APPELLANTS' PETITION FOR EMERGENCY STAY AND SEPARATE WHITE, WASHINGTON, LONOKE, AND CONWAY COIJNTY APPELLANTS' EXPEDITED MOTION FOR STAY ARE GRANTED.

David Badash comments at The New Civil Rights Movement:

With a one-sentence statement giving absolutely no reason or explanation, the Arkansas Supreme Court has haled the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. That ruling will likely last for months as the Court takes the summer off. 
Despite more than 500 licenses having been issued to same-sex couples, the Court found fit to halt the process after a full week.

And so that's where things stand as this roller-coaster week ends. And, as David Badash notes, the peremptory statement leaves all of us folks who married when the door opened earlier in the week in limbo, not knowing if our marriages have now been made invalid, or if the legal steps we've taken in consequence of our marriages (I talked to a number of couples on Monday who immediately took their proof of marriage to the proper office to be listed as legal parents of their children) now mean nothing at all.

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