AUGUST 2014 FILE PHOTO/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
DENVER - Kansas' attorney general on Wednesday notified an appeals court he is challenging Tuesday's court ruling that blocks government officials from enforcing Kansas' ban of same-sex marriages.
Hours later, the Kansas Supreme Court postponed oral arguments in a separate marriage case that had been scheduled to begin Thursday morning. The decision allows the state's highest court to wait and see how the issue of marriage plays out in federal court.
Attorney General Derek Schmidt told the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that he is appealing 'any and all appealable issues' from Tuesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree in Kansas City, Kan.
Schmidt submitted a one-paragraph notice of appeal to the Denver-based court.
Crabtree granted a preliminary injunction against the Kansas Constitution's ban on same-sex marriages, but put his order on hold to give state officials an opportunity to challenge it in the appeals court.
The preliminary injunction had been sought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas on behalf of two lesbian couples who had been denied marriage licenses in Sedgwick and Douglas counties.
Based on its past practice, the appeals court isn't likely to take any substantive action until the attorney general's staff submits filings that specify what in particular he is asking the appellate judges to do.
The Kansas Supreme Court's decision applies to a separate case in which a Johnson County District Court judge handed down an administrative order allowing a same-sex marriage license to be issued. The court is preventing any further licenses from being issued as it considers how to proceed.
The Supreme Court has given both sides in the case until Nov. 15 to say why or why not the court should continue to prevent same-sex marriages from taking place as the federal case proceeds.
Crabtree's preliminary injunction will go into effect at 5 p.m. Nov. 11, meaning same-sex couples will be able to begin marrying at that time unless an appeals court prevents the injunction from taking hold.
About 70 percent of voters approved amending the Kansas Constitution in 2005 to ban same-sex marriage. Recent polling shows a majority of Kansans favor some type of legal recognition for same-sex relationships.
In his 38-page ruling, Crabtree wrote that he concluded the two lesbian couples 'have shown a strong likelihood that they will succeed in establishing that (the Kansas Constitution and Kansas statutes) violate their rights guaranteed by the Due Process and Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.'
He also stated 'Kansas' same-sex marriage ban violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.'
Doug Bonney, legal director and chief counsel for the ACLU of Kansas, said the practical effect of Crabtree's ruling would be to allow same-sex marriage throughout the state.
The 10th Circuit court earlier this year struck down same-sex marriage bans in Oklahoma and Utah that were similar to Kansas' ban. 'A state may not deny the issuance of a marriage license to two persons, or refuse to recognize their marriage, based solely upon the sex of the persons in the marriage union,' the appeals court stated.
In October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Oklahoma and Utah cases, allowing the 10th Circuit decisions to stand. Crabtree said he is bound by the outcome of those cases.
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