U.S. Supreme Court Rejects NOM Attempt to Stay Oregaon Gay Marriages

Trying desperately to remain relevant - at least among Christofascist donors - and to continue to attract right wing donors like the Catholic and Mormon Churches the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") petitioned the U. S. Supreme Court to stay a Federal District Court ruling that allowed same sex marriages to take place in the State of Oregon while NOM appeals the District Court ruling that rejected NOM's effort to intervene in the case. That appeal is  now before the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.   NOM sought to intervene in the District Court case after Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum indicated that she declined to defend Oregon's same-sex marriage ban.  The Ninth Circuit previous kicked NOM's request for a stay to the curb.  Apoplectic that it was not allowed to intervene, NOM filed its request with Justice Anthony Kennedy who referred the request to the full court. The justices denied NOM's request without comment.  For those trying to read the tea leaves of what the U.S. Supreme Court may do when a direct appeal of a ruling striking down a state same sex marriage ban, today's rejection of NOM's effort may not provide an accurate reading.  Here are details from BuzzFeed:

NOM’s appeal of the denial to intervene is the only matter left pending in the case because Oregon state officials had not fought the lawsuit, having agreed with the plaintiffs that the ban is unconstitutional. They had said that they would not appeal the decision if U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane struck down the ban.

In another case, that challenging Utah’s ban on same-sex couples’ marriages, the Supreme Court issued a stay in January, which has led most judges hearing marriage cases since to issue a stay during any appeal. Here, however, the argument was not about whether there should be a stay of marriages during an active appeal from state officials, but instead whether NOM was likely to succeed in its attempt to intervene in the lawsuit in the first place.

Opponents of the ban were delighted with NOM's failure to intervene and futile effort at the Supreme Court.  Here is a quote via LGBTQ Nation:

“We are delighted that the court has rejected NOM’s attempt to derail marriage equality in Oregon,” said David Fidanque, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, which represented two of the four gay and lesbian couples who challenged the marriage ban. “We are confident that marriage equality in Oregon will help pave the way for marriage equality nationwide.”