The couples were able to obtain marriage licenses and marry before the stay was issued on Jan. 6, but they are now waiting to find out if the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will affirm their marriages.
Before Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor received Utah’s application for a stay, the 10th Circuit Court in Denver had denied the request three times. After the delay, the process in Denver is now on the fast track.
Amy Fowler, who married Pidge Winburn on Dec. 23, was more surprised by the stay than she expected to be.
“It came to be a shock,” Fowler said. “It’s been denied so much, how can they stay it now?”
Fowler and Winburn drove to the clerk’s office the day Shelby’s ruling legalized same-sex marriages. When they arrived, the office was closed, and Fowler thought they had lost their chance.
“I was certain that the stay was on its way,” Fowler said.
The following Monday, the pair woke up at 6:30 a.m. to rush to the clerk’s office. They stood in line for eight hours waiting for their license and were married the same day. Now the couple, like many others, is waiting to find out what is next for them.
“So many questions are up in the air,” Fowler said.
For Fowler and Winburn, the court ruling is about more than exchanging rings.
“This is not just about marriage … this is people’s lives on the line, and their livelihoods and their families and their rights,” Fowler continued.
In this strange place of limbo, the pair is now wondering if the basic rights of marriage will be guaranteed to them. Couples like Fowler and Winburn wonder if they can file taxes together, be on the same insurance plan and make critical decisions for their partner in the hospital.
Clifford Rosky, chairman of Equity Utah and a professor of law at the U, said there is no doubt couples like Fowler and Winburn are still legally married.
“There is no question,” he said. “These marriages were authorized by a legal court order.”
But it is still uncertain whether the state of Utah will try to refuse to recognize these marriages, as it has refused to recognize same-sex unions solemnized in other states.
Lynn Wardle, who specializes in family law at BYU, thinks Shelby’s original ruling backing same-sex marriages on constitutional grounds was unconstitutional and “agenda-driven.”
“Nothing in the text, history or precedents of our Constitution authorize a federal judge to invalidate Utah’s marriage law, and nothing in constitutional history justifies Judge Shelby’s order,” Wardle said.
Rosky, on the other hand, said that if the state does not recognize the same-sex marriages, it would be a “profound blow not only to these couples, but to every child or adult who loves them and depends on them.”
If the 10th Circuit Court agrees with the district court, he believes there is a “very good chance” that the Supreme Court will take the case, probably in conjunction with 20 similar cases that are underway across the country. Many legal experts see the case as a watershed moment.
“If the Federal Court’s decision is upheld on appeal, same-sex couples will have the right to marry in all 50 states,” Rosky said. “This is not a question of whether same-sex marriage is legal in Utah.”
Fowler is all too aware of this as well.
“This could very well be the case to end all cases,” Fowler said. “That’s exciting and frightening.”