Utah AG Files Emergency Stay Request With SCOTUS; Next Action 1/3/14

As expected the state of Utah, as represented by the brand new Attorney General Sean Reyes, has filed an emergency stay request with Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor to halt the issuance of
marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the Beehive state. You can read the 26-page filing here.

Chris Geidner of Buzzfeed reports:

The filing, an application to stay judgment pending appeal, was filed with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who can decide the motion on her own or refer it to the entire court to decide. 

The lawyers for Utah first argue that the Supreme Court would be likely to accept the case, Kitchen v. Herbert, on appeal should it — currently on appeal before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals — later be appealed to them. 

Then, the lawyers argue that they are likely to succeed on appeal and that the Dec. 20 ruling for U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby will be overturned.

It will be interesting to see if the Supreme Court agrees to stay the district court ruling during the appellate process. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court has already issued an incredibly fast schedule for hearing the appeal whereby briefing will be completed by February 25, 2014 barely 2 months after the initial district court ruling in December 20. (In contrast, the 9th U.S. Circuit took nearly 18 months to issue its appeal of the district court's ruling striking down Proposition 8.)

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God