Obama Administration to Recognize Utah Same-Sex Marriages

The Obama Administration today said it would recognize the marriages of some 1300 same-sex couples in Utah. This comes after the State of Utah said it would refuse to do so. The legal whiplash began in when a federal judge ruled that Utah's amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman violated the US constitution. That prompted a flood of same-sex marriages. When the Supreme Court granted Utah's appeal for a stay, the state said it would not recognize marriages that had already taken place. Attorney Doug NeJaime is a professor of law at the University of California, Irvine.