U.S. District Judge Raymond P. Moore
said Tuesday he'll rule Wednesday in a case challenging Colorado's
ban on gay marriage.
Moore said he was leaning toward ruling
in favor of plaintiffs but was uncertain whether his ruling should be
put on hold.
Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper
and Republican Attorney General John Suthers asked Moore to declare
invalid the state's ban but delay implementation until the Supreme
Court has ruled in a separate but similar case.
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in
Denver last month upheld a lower court's ruling striking down Utah's
restrictive marriage ban. The ruling has reverberated in Colorado,
where three county clerks cited the ruling in announcing they would
begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
(Related: Colorado
county reluctantly stops issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.)
Plaintiffs challenging the ban – six
gay and lesbian couples – filed their challenge after the appeals
court handed down its decision.
Since that date, the Tenth Circuit has
issued a second ruling striking down a state ban. This time it was
Oklahoma, leaving little doubt Colorado would lose an appeal.
Hickenlooper, who
recently endorsed marriage equality, in 2013 signed Colorado's
civil unions law.