California Court Won’t Stop Gay Marriages

The California Supreme Court is refusing to order the state to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The court issued an order Monday denying the request by backers of the state's same-sex marriage ban for an emergency order that would have required the state to keep enforcing a voter-approved prohibition on same-sex marriages.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month cleared the way for gay marriages to resume in the nation's most populous state by dismissing the backer's appeal of a lower court ruling that found Proposition 8 unconstitutional.

The state's highest court still plans to separately consider whether that lower court ruling effectively legalized gay marriages statewide or only in Los Angeles and Alameda counties.

The two couples who sued to strike down the ban live in those counties.

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