On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from five states after federal Appeals Courts had ruled against their bans on same-sex marriage, effectively forcing Utah, Virginia, Oklahoma, Indiana and Wisconsin to abide by their Circuit Courts' decisions that prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying was unconstitutional.
Common sense said that other states under the jurisdiction of the same Circuit Courts would stop wasting money on cases that were still pending since there was no chance that the Courts would decide their cases differently.
Apparently common sense is a controlled commodity in Idaho, though state officials put no limit on pig-headedness.
Indeed, on Tuesday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the bans against same-sex marriage in Idaho and Nevada were unconstitutional. In their decision, the judges wrote, "The lessons of our constitutional history are clear: inclusion strengthens, rather than weakens, our most important institutions. When same-sex couples are married, just as when opposite-sex couples are married, they serve as models of loving commitment to all." They mandated that same-sex unions "shall issue forthwith."
Same-sex couples were lined up outside Ada County Courthouse in Boise this morning where clerks were preparing to issue same-sex marriage licenses beginning at 8:00AM, when Justice Anthony Kennedy responded to an emergency motion filed by Governor Butch Otter (R)'s office just three hours earlier and issued a temporary stay on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals order.
Idaho claims that their case should be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court because it is "different" from others heard by the 9th Circuit Court, though the state declined to say what that difference is.
Bigotry carries a red flag and rides across Idaho on an elephant.Nevada recognized the futility of continuing to fight this losing battle and did not request a stay. County clerks will beginning issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples at 2:00PM local time.
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