Kansas Attorney General

TOPEKA – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt today issued the following statement in connection with the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision to allow the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex applicants in Johnson County and to delay further proceedings in this case until federal courts sort out the constitutional issues surrounding state prohibitions on same-sex marriage:

“Although we asked the Kansas Supreme Court to provide statewide uniformity, today’s ruling leaves the decision whether to issue licenses in the hands of the federal judiciary and of district court judges throughout the state. Because a provision in the Kansas Constitution is at peril, the State of Kansas will continue its defense in federal court as long as a defense is properly available. I hope the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly agree to take up the case from the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to give finality and certainty to Kansas and the rest of the country on this matter.”