The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday afternoon issued an order clearing the way for same-sex marriage to resume in California.
The order came two days after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule on a case on California’s Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot measure which had declared same-sex marriage illegal in the state.
In a 5-4 ruling Wednesday, the Court decided Prop 8 backers lacked standing under federal law to appeal the case, effectively leaving in place an earlier ruling by the 9th Circuit Court that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. State officials had refused to defend the ballot measure in court, leaving a group including ProtectMarriage.com to argue on behalf of the measure.
"We have no authority to decide this case on the merits, and neither did the 9th Circuit,'' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority decision issued Wednesday.
The Supreme Court decision meant same-sex marriage could soon resume in California pending a legal process that many expected would mean a wait for the lifting of the stay on the 9th Circuit Court's order overturning Prop 8. It seemed it could takes weeks for same-sex marriages to resume.
Under Supreme Court rules, rulings are usually final after 25 days. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said after Wednesday's ruling that it will take at least that long for the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling to become official, and that the San Francisco-based court said it may continue to bar same-sex marriages beyond that if proponents of Proposition 8 ask for a rehearing.
But California Attorney General Kamala Harris called on the 9th Circuit to lift the stay as soon as possible on Wednesday, after Gov. Jerry Brown had said he wanted counties to prepare for same-sex marriages to resume once the 9th Circuit confirmed the stay was lifted.
And on Friday, the appellate court did so.
“The stay in the above matter is dissolved effective immediately,” said the one-sentence ruling, issued just after 3 p.m. Friday.
County clerks in several of the state's 58 counties had put out statements that they would begin issuing marriage licenses once the stay was lifted.
That done so on Friday, same-sex marriage supported in California appeared ready to celebrate.
"On my way to S.F. City Hall. Let the wedding bells ring! #Prop8," Harris tweeted Friday afternoon.
“I am thrilled that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted its stay to allow same-sex couples to legally marry in California,” Harris said in a statement issued just before 4 p.m. “Gay and lesbian couples have waited so long for this day and for their fundamental right to marry. Finally, their loving relationships are as legitimate and legal as any other.”
Anthony Pugno, the general counsel for ProtectMarriage.com, said in a statement that the court order deprived the group of its “right to ask for reconsideration.”
"This outrageous act tops off a chronic pattern of lawlessness, throughout this case, by judges and politicians hell-bent on thwarting the vote of the people to redefine marriage by any means, even outright corruption,” Pugno wrote. "The resumption of same-sex marriage this day has been obtained by illegitimate means."
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