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The map changes again:
Breaking: America's Largest State Gets Marriage Equality
DailyKOS,com | By JP Massar | FRI OCT 17, 2014 AT 12:00 PM PDT
The Supreme Court just refused to grant a stay of an Alaska judge's decision that Alaska's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.
The existing stay, put in place by by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, was to "dissolve" at Noon, Pacific Time today (Friday), unless the Supreme Court acted on it. It did not.
That should mean that marriages in Alaska can begin immediately. (At least one marriage took place already, before the stay by the Ninth Circuit was put in place.)
Just hours ago, Arizona's ban on same-sex marriages was ruled unconstitutional by Federal District Court Judge Sedwick and the Attorney General of the state, Tom Horne, has said that there will be no appeal.
The map of the state of marriage equality in the United States
Update. Apparently the Supreme Court did issue a last minute denial, rather than letting the clock simply "run out."
Keeping its reasons to itself for doing the same thing again, the Supreme Court on Friday afternoon rejected a plea to stop same-sex marriages from going ahead in Alaska. By denying the state’s plea for postponement, in a one-sentence order giving no explanation, the Court’s action had the effect o making that state the thirty-first in which gays and lesbians can marry legally.
The Court released its order just moments before a temporary delay imposed by a federal appeals court was due to expire. With that expiration, a federal trial judge’s order finding Alaska’s ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional went into effect, allowing the issuance of marriage licenses in that state.