(Salt Lake City, UT, July 9, 2014)—Today, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes announced that his office will not seek further review by the full United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit of a June 2014 decision by a 3-judge panel of that court striking down Utah’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples. The State of Utah defendants will instead file a petition with the Supreme Court of the United States asking the Court to review the panel’s decision.
The plaintiff same-sex couples in the case—Kitchen v. Herbert—are represented by Peggy Tomsic of the Salt Lake City law firm of Magleby & Greenwood, P.C., and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).
Statement by NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter, Esq.:
“We want this case to move forward to a final resolution as quickly as possible. Every day, loving and committed same-sex couples and their families in Utah are being harmed by the continued enforcement of measures that deny them equal dignity, security and protection—even though both the federal district court and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals have held they violate fundamental constitutional guarantees. We look forward to the day every family in Utah has the freedom to marry, and we will work hard to make that happen as soon as possible.”
