Horne: Gay-marriage ruling applies, but mandate needed

[brooklynite]

Source: Arizona Republic

Same-sex couples in Arizona could begin applying for marriage licenses in a matter of days. But a few legal hurdles remain.

In legal documents filed Thursday, Republican Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne wrote that he believes a recent appeals-court ruling striking down similar marriage bans in other states applies to Arizona. But he asked U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick to wait to overturn the law until the appeals court issues its legal mandate.

A mandate instructs courts to go forward with the opinion. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued a mandate last week within hours of ruling that marriage laws in Idaho and Nevada violated couples' rights to equal protection under the 14th Amendment. But the court withdrew its mandate so Idaho could appeal.

Idaho withdrew its appeal and earlier this week began issuing marriage licenses, but the 9th Circuit had not reissued its mandate. Arizona is part of the San Francisco-based circuit.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/10/16/horne-concedes-sex-marriage-ruling-applies-arizona/17372549/

[brooklynite]

1. UPDATE-Horne throws in the towel; marriages may begin immediately.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014921331

[kmlisle]

2. In case Tom Horne's name doesn't ring a bell he is an equal opportunity bigot

As Head of the Arizona dept of Education he led the campaign to shut down the highly successful multicultural studies program in Tuscon High Schools because teaching Latino students bout their heritage was
"Un-American". They banned all the books connected from the program when they shut it down (including several plays by Shakespeare) . Tragic for the Latino Youth who were not only graduating from HS with the program at a 90% rate but also going on to college at a much higher rate.