Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne will not appeal a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in the case of Connolly v. Brewer in the matter of same-sex marriage.
At 10:30 a.m. this morning, Horne emailed a letter to county superior courts throughout Arizona informing courts that they could no longer treat marriage exclusively as “a union of one man and one woman” under Article 30 of the Arizona Constitution.
The district court ruled “that both Article 30 and Section 25-101(C) of the Arizona Revised Statutes are invalid under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to the extent that those laws prohibit or treat as void marriage between persons of the same sex,” the letter read.
Horne stated that Arizona superior courts could immediately issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples today.
“Accordingly, and effective immediately, the clerks of Arizona county superior courts cannot deny a marriage license to any otherwise eligible licensees on the ground that the license permits a marriage between persons of the same sex,” Horne wrote.
For the full story, see the Wednesday, Oct. 22, of The Camp Verde Journal and the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
