Oregon: NOM Asks Supreme Court to Stop Same-Sex Marriages

The National Organization for Marriage has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in to prevent marriages between same-sex couples from taking place, after a federal judge ruled last week that the state's ban on such unions was unconstitutional.

NOM submitted a request on Tuesday to Justice Anthony Kennedy, who oversees legal questions regarding the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, according to Buzzfeed. Kennedy also happens to be the justice who wrote the opinion in the 2013 Windsor case, which overturned the portion of the Defense of Marriage Act that denied federal relationship recognition to same-sex couples. He also wrote the opinion in striking down discriminatory sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003.

NOM's filing on Tuesday asked Kennedy to stop U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane's ruling last week from going into effect while NOM attempts to continue making appeals.

"In Oregon, not only do we have a single trial court judge imposing his own opinion and invalidating the votes of the overwhelming majority of Oregon voters, but the case involves the state attorney general refusing to even mount a defense of the people's decision," NOM chairman John Eastman said in a statement Tuesday. "This should be very troubling to Justice Kennedy."

Meanwhile, Oregon United for Marriage has called NOM's move "desperate," as it has failed multiple times in the last week to intervene in the case.

"Let's make one thing clear: NOM can't win an appeal of the landmark decision striking down Oregon's marriage ban -- they know that," Amy Ruiz, Oregon United for Marriage's deputy campaign manager said Wednesday. "Today's motion is just their latest, last-ditch attempt to keep loving Oregon families from sharing in the freedom to marry as long as they possibly can."