Days after U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that voters' definition of marriage is unconstitutional, confusion abounds across Wisconsin as county clerks have no legal guidance to issue, or not issue, marriage licenses to same-sex couples, or even groups of people.
The state of limbo is a result of the judge's delay, saying she's waiting for marching orders from the American Civil Liberties Union.
UPDATE 9/6/14: Appeals Court Goes Gay for Wisconsin & Indiana
For background, read how activist judges across America are forbidding voters the right to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
And read Lawless Obama Administration: States Should Violate Oath for 'Gay Marriage'
Also read 'Gay Marriage' Not Favored in Polls, Only in Court
-- From "Same-Sex Marriages In Wisconsin Can Continue, Judge Rules" by The Associated Press 6/9/14
Gay couples in Wisconsin convinced some county clerks to give them licenses Monday so they could wed before an expected hold on a judge's decision declaring the state's gay marriage ban unconstitutional.
Other clerks, however, refused to act without an order from the court or state, which is appealing the judge's decision.
Hundreds of couples married over the weekend in Milwaukee and Madison after county clerks in the state's two largest cities extended office hours following the federal judge's ruling Friday. Couples living elsewhere had to wait until Monday to get licenses because Wisconsin requires residents to apply in the counties where they live.
Dozens of couples were initially refused licenses in Appleton, Green Bay and elsewhere while county clerks in those communities weighed what to do and sought advice from the Wisconsin Vital Records Office, which keeps marriage records. Nearly 100 people at the Outagamie County Clerk's office in Appleton objected when told they could not apply for licenses.
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From "ACLU files proposal on how it wants judge's ruling on gay marriage implemented" by Christina Palladino, WISN-TV12 (Milwaukee, WI) 6/9/14
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb in Madison did not issue an order for counties to let couples begin marrying . . . she said she wanted the ACLU to draft an order for her spelling out how the organization wants her decision implemented.
The ACLU said late Monday that it had submitted its proposal to Crabb. Its proposal would require state officials to let gay couples marry and to recognize gay marriages performed in other states. It would also give those couples -- that are lawfully married -- all state law rights and protections provided to different-sex couples.
Right now, there's some confusion about whether marriages already performed are legal.
As of now, gay marriage is still legal in Wisconsin, but what happens next?
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From "Federal judge declines to stop gay marriages in Wisconsin" by Jason Stein, Patrick Marley and Dana Ferguson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 6/9/14
Three days after issuing her historic ruling striking down the state's same-sex marriage ban, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb rejected a request from Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to stay her decision. But in a hearing Monday, she signaled that she or a federal appeals court is likely to put the brakes on her ruling at some point in the coming weeks. That in turn would block county officials around the state from issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples while the decision is appealed.
At least 31 of Wisconsin's 72 counties issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples Monday. At least 30 declined to do so but were waiting for directions from from the attorney general's office or their corporation counsel. The remaining 11 did not respond Monday to calls from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
When asked by state attorneys Monday about that inconsistency from county-to-county, Crabb said it was an issue for state courts to decide if needed, not her.
Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia, said he was expecting either Crabb or the 7th [Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago] to issue a temporary stay stopping the same-sex marriages.
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From "Judge declines to stay marriage ruling, is silent on whether clerks should issue licenses" by Ed Treleven, Portage Daily Register 6/10/14
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb on Monday declined to stay her ruling overturning Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex marriage pending an appeal. But in her first public remarks since Friday’s ruling, Crabb also said she did not instruct clerks to issue licenses to same-sex couples or to deny them.
Crabb said her ruling Friday was a declaratory judgment, without an injunction. That means she found the ban unconstitutional but did not immediately bar its enforcement. Instead, she ordered opponents of the ban to prepare briefs on how an injunction should be framed.
Interpretations of Crabb’s comments Monday differed markedly. Crabb said the “status quo” should continue, but whether that means the state’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage remains in effect, as Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen argues, or whether that means marriages can continue as they have since Friday is a question Crabb did not answer at Monday’s hearing.
The state’s lawyers complained that, by not issuing an injunction nor a stay on her ruling, Crabb had created “a legal environment in which Wisconsin’s county clerks are deciding on a county-by-county basis whether to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples immediately or wait for the district court to enter injunctive relief or rule on state defendants’ motion to stay.”
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Also read the Christian response to activist judges in Michigan: 100s Detroit Black Pastors Denounce 'Gay Rights'
