In Kitchen v. Herbert, on December 20, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah found Utah's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. About 1,300 same-sex marriages took place in Utah between that order and January 6, 2014, when the Supreme Court granted the state an emergency stay of order in Kitchen. Although these marriages were recognized as legal by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the State declined to recognize them. Instead, on January 8th, 2014, the Governor's office issued a directive stating that "[b]ased on counsel from the Attorney General's Office regarding the Supreme Court decision, state recognition of same-sex marital status is ON HOLD until further notice." This case reflects litigation on that issue.

On January 28th, 2014, four same-sex couples married in Utah between December 20th, 2013 and January 6th, 2014 brought suit under 42 U.S.C. §1983 against the State of Utah in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. The plaintiffs were represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union. They sought recognition of their marriages and costs of suit and reasonable attorneys' fees. The plaintiffs alleged that they had valid marriages under Utah Code Title 30 Chapter 1, and argued that by putting their marriages "on hold", the defendants violated the plaintiffs' rights to due process of law under the United States and Utah constitutions.

On February 4, 2014, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prohibit Utah from applying state marriage bans retroactively to same-sex couples who were married in Utah between December 20th, 2013, and January 6th, 2014. On May 19, 2014, the District Court (Judge Dale A. Kimball) granted the plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction. 2014 WL 2048343 (D. Utah, 2014). However, in the same ruling, the District Court stayed the preliminary injunction order for twenty-one days to allow the defendants to seek an emergency stay of case pending their interlocutory appeal to the Tenth Circuit.

The state's interlocutory appeal was granted by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 4, 2014. Two days later the Tenth Circuit granted the defendant's motion for temporary stay of the district court's preliminary injunction order, pending its fuller consideration of a stay motion. On July 11, the Court of Appeals held that the state had not met the criteria for a longer-lived stay. However, it left the stay in effect until July 21, so that the state would have time to seek an emergency stay from the Supreme Court. On July 18, the Supreme Court granted such a stay, operative until resolution of the case by the Court of Appeals.

The case mentioned earlier, Kitchen v. Herbert, which declared Utah's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, was denied review by the Supreme Court on October 6, 2014. By denying review of the decision in this case, the Supreme Court removed the stay, solidifying the constitutionality of same-sex marriage in Utah. With the stay of that decision removed, the defendants were now legally required to recognize the marriages of the plaintiffs in this case, and those similarly situated.

The defendants filed a motion to dismiss the appeal in the Tenth Circuit, which was granted by the Court of Appeals on October 8, 2014. The case was remanded back to District Court.

On November 24, 2014, the parties filed a stipulation and joint motion to convert the District Court's preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction. The District Court (Judge Dale A. Kimball) granted this motion on the same day and awarded the plaintiffs $95,000.00 in attorney's fees and costs for the District Court as well as Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals litigation. This case is now closed.

Megan Dolan - 06/26/2014
Mackenzie Walz - 03/22/2018


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