Sonia Sotomayor puts gay marriages in Kansas on hold

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has once again stood up for state marriage laws, this time blocking same-sex marriages in Kansas while a lower court judge’s ruling against the law is under appeal. Federal Judge Daniel Crabtree ruled last week that Kansas must allow same-sex marriages while litigation over the issue takes place in federal district court. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has appealed that ruling, and the plaintiffs, who are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, have until 5 p.m. today to respond.

Sotomayor might not continue to uphold existing Kansas law; her intervention was more likely an attempt to stop marriages from taking place before the issue has been properly argued in court. She could reverse her decision if the ACLU files a convincing rebuttal. Or she could refer the request for an emergency stay to the entire Supreme Court, which she did in January in a similar situation in Utah. The court decided to stay a judge’s ruling against Utah’s marriage law while the appeals court considered it. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals went on to strike down Utah’s constitutional definition of marriage as only between one man and one woman, a decision the Supreme Court later declined to review.

But the legal climate surrounding the marriage issue has changed somewhat since then. Last week, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in support of existing marriage laws in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The decision created a substantial setback for the same-sex marriage movement, which had swept through the country’s courts almost unhindered in the past year. That chink in the armor of the pro-gay-marriage side was not lost on the Kansas attorney general when he made his appeal. Not only did he cite the decision in his arguments, SCOTUS blog reported, he filed a copy of the 6th Circuit ruling with his appeal.

Unfortunately for Schmidt and Kansas, it’s the 10th Circuit, not the 6th, that has jurisdiction in the case. The district judge, Daniel Crabtree, has already indicated his support for same-sex marriage and is likely to strike down the Kansas marriage amendment in keeping with the 10th Circuit’s precedent. In the short term, Kansas’ marriage law is in danger. With the national question of same-sex marriage still up in the air, the law’s best hope rests with the Supreme Court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.