Kansas: Federal Judge Strikes Down Same-Sex Marriage Ban

The Washington Blade is reporting that a federal judge has struck down Kansas's ban on same-sex marriage.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree, an Obama appointee, issued a preliminary injunction against the enforcement on Kansas law prohibiting of marriage rights for same-sex couples. The injunction is warranted, Crabtree writes, because of legal precedent and because state officials defending the law haven’t made a sufficient case they would prevail in court.

“Because Kansas’ constitution and statutes indeed do what Kitchen forbids, the Court concludes that Kansas’ same-sex marriage ban violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,” Crabtree writes. “Accordingly, the Court grants plaintiffs’ request for preliminary relief and enters the injunction described at the end of this Order.”

A temporary stay was placed on the ruling which expires 5 pm CT on November 11.

The state can appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals - however, that court is the same which ruled Oklahoma and Utah's same-sex marriage bans were unconstitutional, which now has become legal precedent.

The state Supreme Court is slated to hear a similar matter on November 6.

Read the ruling below:

2:14-cv-02518 #29 - ORDER by Equality Case Files