Will Same-Sex Marriages Performed On Saturday Remain Valid?
DETROIT (WWJ) - With a stay issued by the U.S. Sixth Circuit of Appeals in Michigan's same-sex marriage case, one area attorney believes marriages performed on Saturday are legal. Francyne Stacey is an attorney with Butzel-Long in Ann Arbor and believes they'll be upheld.
For those couples who did get married in Michigan, Stacey, believes they're valid marriages ... but says the court of appeals could rule differently.
But when might it hear the case?
"I don't know, I would hope that they would hold an expedited hearing on that, so maybe a few months," said Stacey.
"These kinds of amendments and ... statutes are just falling all around the country and the state is spending taxpayer money on something that is inevitably going to change."
Federal Judge Bernard Friedman ruled Friday that Michigan's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.
She believes the court of appeals will uphold Friedman's ruling:
"Any same-sex couple could get married within those few hours and I don't see any reason why it does not remain a valid marriage.
"I think it means that their marriages are valid because at the time they were married, the Michigan Marriage Act was enjoined from being enforced and that made the marriages automatically legal," Stacey said.
Stacey says a petition is circulating asking Governor Rick Snyder to end the appeal of the case.