Michigan Must Recognize Same-Sex Mariages Entered Before Stay of District Court's Order

In Caspar v. Snyder, (ED MI, Jan 15, 2015), a Michigan federal district court issued a preliminary injunction requiring Michigan to recognize some 300 same-sex marriages of couples who married in the less 24 hours between a district court's striking down of Michigan's same-sex marriage ban and the 6th Circuit's stay of the order. In a 47-page opinion, the court held that:

once a marriage has been solemnized pursuant to a validly issued marriage license, the authorizing state cannot withdraw the status that it has awarded, even if the couples had no right to demand to be married in the first place.

The court however stayed the effectiveness of its injunction for 21 days to allow an appeal to the 6th Circuit. Christian Science Monitor reports on the decision.