History on Hold

History on Hold

This was the headline in the Detroit Free Press this morning as the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay in the federal judge Bernard Friedman's decision to overturn Michigan's ban on gay marriage. This is very interesting and very confusing. First, in 2004, there was a vote put before all the people of Michigan  called a referendum. In that referendum, the majority of the people voted that same-sex marriage should not take place in Michigan. Then a same-sex couple filed a law suit against the state of Michigan claiming that they should be allowed to be married so their kids could have two parents who were legally married. The judge in that case ruled on Friday that the the 2004 ban was against the Constitution of the United States, which is the highest law of the country.

In the USA, though, when a person loses certain lawsuits, they can appeal the decision to a higher court The state of Michigan, who lost the lawsuit, appealed the losing decision to a higher court asking that the higher court, called the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, stay the order to overturn the referendum. That means that Judge Friedman's decision is on pause until this Wednesday, when the higher court will decide whether Judge Friedman's ruling was correct or not. If the higher court decides it was correct, then same-sex couples will be allowed to get married. If the court decides it was incorrect, then the two women who brought the lawsuit in the first place, who want to be legally married, can appeal the case to the highest court in the country, the United States Supreme Court in Washington D.C.

In the meantime, between the time of Judge Rosen's original decision on Friday and Saturday afternoon when the stay was issued, dozens of same-sex couples got married across the state of Michigan at county courthouses, like the Oakland County Courthouse. Their marriages were legal when they were performed, but now they are in legal "limbo" which means they're not technically legal until a court finally decides whether same-sex marriage is legal in Michigan or not.