Utah AG Petitions SCOTUS on Marriage

[Content Note: Homophobia.]

Last week, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg predicted that the Court would take up the issue of same-sex marriage the next time a case was brought to them, and we're about to see if she's right, because here we go:

Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in a bid to preserve the state's same-sex marriage ban.

Reyes bluntly spelled out the stakes.

"It comes down to this," the petition states. "Thousands of couples are being unconstitutionally denied the right to marry, or millions of voters are being disenfranchised of their vote to define marriage. Either way, the court's review is necessary, and this case is the right vehicle to do so."

Calling it, without exaggeration, an "immensely important question," Utah's petition seeks review of a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision that struck down the state's marriage restrictions.

"The issue has been percolating for 40 years," the petition notes. "Dozens of cases are challenging state marriage laws, and erratic use of stays has created legal chaos."

That's pretty much the same argument that supporters of same-sex marriage make, even though Reyes is an opponent of same-sex marriage—if not personally then by way of defending his state's right to empower voters with the denial of civil rights to a minority population.

The fact that both sides are simultaneously arguing that the current state of affairs is untenable means that now is the time for a decisive federal ruling on the constitutionality of marriage bans.

I desperately hope the Supreme Court is decent enough to rule in favor of equality.