The stay is lifted, sort of. Judge Vaughn Walker decided today that same-sex marriages can resume in California on August 18. You can read the final stay order here.
Why the delay? Judge Walker knew that Prop 8 opponents plan to appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and I’d imagine he didn’t want to put more couples potentially in limbo before that Court gets to make a ruling on a stay. And if I had to predict, I’d say there’s a good chance that stay will remain in force until this case gets a ruling from the Supreme Court, which is nine kinds of tragic in my view. I’d really love to be wrong about that.
Emptywheel, who’s way more knowledgeable about this sort of thing than I am, suggests Judge Walker did this in order to make the 9th Circuit hear the case sooner rather than later.
That said, there’s some pressure from the right not to appeal. Some Prop 8 supporters are worried that if this case goes to the Supreme Court, they could lose the bans currently in place in 31 other states.
Nate Silver points to polls which suggest popular support for same-sex marriage is accelerating.
He who shall not be named at The Rumpus thinks there are more important things to worry about than same-sex marriage.
