PRESS

RELEASE: Kitchen v. Herbert

RESPONSE TO THE STATE OF UTAHS REQUEST FOR A STAY FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

December 31, 2013 Today, the State of Utah (the State) requested that the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) grant a stay of the decision by the Hon. Robert Shelby in Kitchen v. Herbert, declaring that the Utah Constitutions Amendment 3 and related Utah state statutes banning same-sex marriages and the recognition of legal same-sex marriages are unconstitutional because they violate the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has already denied a stay request by the State of Utah. According to James Magleby, one of the attorneys at the MAGLEBY & GREENWOOD, P.C. law firm representing the Plaintiffs in the Kitchen case, aside from the lack of merit to the States request to SCOTUS for a stay, the Tenth Circuit has already established a rare, expedited briefing schedule on these issues, and hundreds of same-sex couples have already been married in Utah; thus, there is no emergency need for a stay. The State has acknowledged that it may cost citizens of Utah approximately $2 million to continue the challenge to Judge Shelbys ruling. In response, Magleby observed that we are disappointed that the State of Utah will spend millions of dollars in taxpayers money, to attempt to reinstate laws which deny due process and equal protection to all of Utahs citizens. He went on to say that It doesnt have to be this way. The State of Utah should carefully consider its other options, in particular the fiscally responsible decision by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, to save his state from further legal expenditures and to put a divisive issue in the past, by deciding not to pursue an appeal from an analogous ruling. For further information please contact:

Peggy A. Tomsic James E. Magleby MAGLEBY & GREENWOOD, P.C. 801.359.9000 tomsic@mgpclaw.com magleby@mgpclaw.com