WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Supreme Court justice has rejected a Pennsylvania county clerk’s bid to stop gay marriages in the state while she tries to get standing in a legal case to stop them permanently.
Without comment, Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday rejected an appeal by Schuylkill County Orphans’ Court Clerk Theresa Santai-Gaffney. The clerk can appeal to another justice, however.
Same-sex marriage became legal in Pennsylvania on May 20 when U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III struck down a state ban against the practice. Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration decided not to appeal the decision.
The county clerk, however, then tried to intervene. The federal judge and a federal appellate court rebuffed her attempts, prompting her appeal to the Supreme Court.
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