Utah Attorney General will seek Supreme Court review of 10th Circuit marriage ruling

Today, the Utah Attorney General's office announced that the state would appeal last month's pro-marriage ruling from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals directly to the United States Supreme Court.

The Attorney General released the following statement:

To obtain clarity and resolution from the highest court, the Utah Attorney General's Office will not seek en banc review of the Kitchen v. Herbert 10th Circuit decision, but will file a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court in the coming weeks. Attorney General Reyes has a sworn duty to defend the laws of our state. Utah's Constitutional Amendment 3 is presumed to be constitutional unless the highest court deems otherwise. 

After the petition is filed, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to take up the case. 

Freedom to Marry founder and president Evan Wolfson explained this year the process for the Supreme Court taking up a case. He said:

This process is called "seeking cert." This stage will require another few months of briefing and argument, with one side saying the Supreme Court should hear the case and the other side saying the Court should not hear the case. Then, it's up to the Supreme Court to decide whether it's going to take one of the cases or not. It takes only four of the nine justices to vote to hear a case.

We need to continue sending the message that all of America is ready for the freedom to marry. That's the way we're going to win. We need to help the courts get the country where the country is ready for the courts to get us: on the right side of history, with the freedom to marry for all.

The announcement today follows last month's ruling in Utah's Kitchen v Herbert from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. The Court's ruling upheld a trial court decision from December 2013 affirming that it is unconstitutional to exclude same-sex couples from marriage. 

Since last June, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the core of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, 23 consecutive rulings have come down in favor of the freedom to marry in state, federal, and federal appellate courts. Marriage litigation is pending in every state without the freedom to marry, and pro-marriage decisions are pending before federal appellate courts in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th Circuits. 

Freedom to Marry's Litigation Resource tracks all 75+ marriage cases in the courts.