LAS VEGAS — A U.S. Supreme Court justice on Wednesday temporarily blocked a lower-court ruling that declared gay marriage legal in Idaho and Nevada, dashing plans in Las Vegas to start performing gay nuptials in the self-proclaimed marriage capital of the world.
Nevada and Idaho had joined the growing number of states where same-sex marriage is legal when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that gay couples’ equal protection rights were violated by the gay marriage bans in both states.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued the order temporarily halting gay marriage a little more than an hour after Idaho filed an emergency request for an immediate stay. The state’s request said that without a stay, state and county officials would have been required to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Wednesday morning.
Kennedy’s order requested a response from the plaintiffs involved in Idaho’s gay marriage lawsuit by the end of Thursday.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more on this story.
