The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal by a California gay couple whose quest for a marriage license was rejected by a federal appeals court earlier this year. Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer have been in court since the Orange County clerk rejected their marriage license applications in 2004, The Orange County Register reports.
The pair was unable to win support from gay rights groups, who wanted to focus legal efforts on winning same-sex marriage rights in state courts. The groups feared that a federal court decision would lead to a nationwide defeat. "I don't think a whole lot of this right now--I'm pretty sure all of this will be overturned someday," Hammer told the Register after learning of the Supreme Court action.
The ninth U.S. circuit court of appeals, often characterized as one of the most liberal courts in the country, shot the pair's case down in May. "Smelt and Hammer are not even married under any state law or, for that matter, under the law of any foreign country. No doubt they wish they could be, but, again, they are not," the ninth circuit judges wrote in rejecting the men's request. The judges said it would have been a stronger case had they been married in one state and a second state refused to recognize the marriage. (The Advocate)
