The California Supreme Court denied a request on Wednesday to stay their decision allowing same-sex marriage until the November election, according to the Associated Press. California county clerks will begin issuing marriage licenses starting June 17, after the standard 30 day period following a decision.
Two conservative groups, the Liberty Counsel and the Campaign for California Families, requested that the Court prevent the decision from taking effect until after the November ballot initiative to restrict marriage to between a man and a woman, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. They argued that allowing same-sex couples to marry now, then revoking that right in the future and the ensuing legal battle on whether those marriages remain valid, would cause confusion.
The San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who previously defended the city’s marriage laws in another suit, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the request to stay the ruling until November was an unprecedented attempt to politicize our judiciary” and postpone constitutional rights based on speculation” or an electoral outcome.
The four justices who voted against staying the decision were the same who signed the majority opinion in the original case, stating that not allowing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, according to Reuters.
