Brandon Rittiman

KUSA-TV, Denver

DENVER — Colorado's attorney general asked the state Supreme Court to block county clerks Monday from issuing licenses for same-sex marriages, saying he will defend the state's ban against gay marriage all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2006, 56% of Colorado voters approved an amendment to the state's constitution that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman. To ignore that before a Supreme Court ruling would create, "chaotic legal uncertainty," Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said.

"It appears very likely that, either judicially or politically, Colorado is going to have same-sex marriage," Suthers said after asking the state's high court for the stay. "But that is no excuse for abandoning the legal processes by which legal change or political change comes about."

Three clerks — in Boulder, Denver and Pueblo counties — have argued that because a federal appeals court in Denver ruled that states can't ban gay marriage, the clerks can issue licenses to same-sex couples even though the court's decision was stayed pending appeal. The attorney general's office appealed a lower court ruling from Judge C. Scott Crabtree of Colorado's 17th Judicial District Court in Brighton, Colo., who struck down the ban but put his decision on hold pending appeal.

On Monday morning, Crabtree refused to stop the Denver clerk from issuing licenses, saying the stay in his case does not give him the power to order her to halt the service. Suthers then made his appeal.

"The underlying question of whether our laws will stand or fall is now in the Colorado Supreme Court's hands, and we hope it or the U.S. Supreme Court will resolve the question expeditiously," Suthers said in a statement. In his filing, Suthers said that the clerks' issuance of "false" marriage documents could be a felony under Colorado law though he added in a later interview that he did not think any of the clerks had committed a crime.

Gay rights groups and several Democrats, including Gov. John Hickenlooper, had urged Suthers not to appeal Crabtree's ruling.



Because this is a direct appeal on a constitutional issue, the Colorado high court must take the case, bypassing the state court of appeals. The district court has 90 days to send the record of its case to the state Supreme Court in Denver, which will then set a schedule for briefings in the case.

Contributing: The Associated Press