The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a temporary stop to same-sex marriages in Utah, the high court's first intervention in a new case that asks whether gays have a constitutional right to wed.

The state had asked the Supreme Court to halt further marriages while its appeal of the trial-court ruling is pending. The state filed its emergency request with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who oversees the region. She referred the issue to the full court, which granted the request without written dissent.

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