On Wednesday, On June 25th, 2014 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a historic ruling affirming the December 2013 decision from U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby in Kitchen v. Herbert that the amendment to the Utah Constitution barring marriage for same-sex couples violates the U.S. Constitution. NCLR and Human Rights won a landmark victory in their Utah marriage equality case in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals–the FIRST federal appeals court to rule in favor of marriage equality since the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) last June, and the FIRST EVER to hold that same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marry.
The 2-1 ruling by a panel of the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals marks the first time a federal appellate court has upheld same-sex marriage. One year ago, on June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down portions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, a landmark ruling that extended federal benefits to gays — though the high court stopped short of ruling that same-sex marriage was a constitutionally protected right. Read More