Federal Appeals Court Rejects Marriage Stay

May 14, 2004

A federal appeals court on Friday denied a last-minute bid to block legal gay marriages from beginning on Monday, and conservative groups pledged to continue pressing it before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by U.S. District Judge Joseph L. Tauro, but said it would hear arguments on the request to bar same-sex unions in June, after several weeks of legal gay marriages.

Tauro ruled Thursday that the state's high court acted within its authority by ruling in November that the Massachusetts Constitution allows same-sex couples to marry.

The request for an emergency injunction worked its way through the federal court system just days before the May 17 deadline established in the Supreme Judicial Court's landmark decision. Under the ruling, city and town clerks may begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples on Monday.

The injunction was requested by a coalition of state lawmakers and conservative activists, including groups in Boston, Michigan, Florida and Mississippi.

Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, had argued in federal court that the SJC overstepped its bounds with the ruling. He said only the Legislature should define marriage, and pleaded with the federal judge to prevent this constitutional train wreck.

But Tauro said granting a stay of the Supreme Judicial Court's landmark ruling would be to deprive that court of its authority and obligation to consider and resolve, with finality, Massachusetts constitutional issues.

The SJC has the authority to interpret, and reinterpret, if necessary, the term marriage as it appears in the Massachusetts Constitution, Tauro wrote. There can be no question that the meaning of the term marriage is an issue that arises under the Constitution.

Gay marriage foes had made several earlier attempts through the state courts for an appeal or stay of the SJC ruling, but all of them have failed.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, who is assigned to hear emergency appeals from the 1st Circuit, could decide the case on his own or refer it to the full court.

Staver said he filed legal briefs on the case with the Supreme Court on Thursday, right after Tauro rejected the group's bid for an emergency injunction.

We put them on notice yesterday and we've sent them our papers as a heads-up, Staver said.

Staver said he planned to send the send the group's appeal by e-mail so the high court would receive it immediately and issue a ruling by Monday's deadline.