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Law

U.S. Supreme Court Won't Block Oregon Same-Sex Marriage

Steve Dykes
/
AP Photo
Julia Fraser, left, and Jessica Rohrbacher get married by Celebrant Holly Pruett at the Melody Ballroom in Portland, Ore., on Monday, May. 19, 2014.

The U.S. Supreme Court won't block same-sex marriages in Oregon. The high court on Wednesday turned down a request to halt gay marriages in the state. 

The outcome is simple: Gay marriage remains legal in Oregon. The back story is complicated. But basically, it goes like this: Four gay couples sued to overturn Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage. The state decided not to defend the law. A federal judge last month threw the law out, and same-sex couples started getting married immediately. 

Then a national group against gay marriage asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put the ruling on hold. The group argued that its quest to intervene in the case is still pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

But the Supreme Court didn't buy that argument. In a one-sentence order, the justices refused to issue a stay.

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.