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)
