UPDATE:
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve its gay-marriage ban while a legal challenge from two lesbian couples is considered by lower federal courts. Attorney General Derek Schmidt said today (FRI) that he'll act before a federal judge's injunction barring the state from enforcing its ban takes effect Tuesday at 5pm. Schmidt announced his plans after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver refused to stay the injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree earlier this week. Crabtree delayed his injunction to allow the state to appeal. Schmidt said he has a duty to exhaust all the state's options because the state constitution bans gay marriage. Voters approved the constitutional provision in 2005. He said his request would go to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
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Fed Appeals Court Clears Way for Gay Marriage in KS
A federal appeals court has cleared the way for same-sex couples to get married in Kansas. Today (FRI), the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request from Kansas to block same-sex marriages from taking place. University of Kansas Law Professor Rick Levy (LEE-vee) says the ruling takes effect next week.
Due to conflicting decisions about gay marriage at the appeals court level, Levy expects the nation's highest court to eventually weigh in on the matter.
In the meantime, Levy says he expects all 105 counties in Kansas to start issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples as early as Wednesday, November 12th.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A federal appeals court has cleared the way for gay marriages to start in Kansas next week in a legal challenge to the state's ban from two lesbian couples. But the legal climate is complicated by a separate gay-marriage case before the Kansas Supreme Court. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Friday denied a request from Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office to put on hold a lower-court injunction preventing the state from enforcing anti-gay marriage laws, including a provision in the state constitution. The injunction is set to take effect 5 pm Tuesday. But the Kansas Supreme Court blocked marriage licenses for gay couples while it considers a separate case filed by Schmidt. The Kansas court's spokeswoman says its order remains in effect.