Pueblo clerk stops issuing licenses, AG appeals Boulder decision

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers persuaded Pueblo County’s clerk to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses and then asked a state appeals court to block another clerk from doing the same.

Pueblo Clerk and Recorder Gilbert Ortiz said his office quit issuing the licenses at 1 p.m. on Monday.

“I stand by the initial decision I made and still believe that an individual’s constitutional rights outweigh a law that discriminates against American citizens,” Ortiz said in a statement. “In light of the attorney general’s threat of litigation, and the Colorado Supreme Court’s recent order, I have decided to avoid adding to the attorney general’s already heavy sum of wasteful litigation in this matter.”

DOCUMENT: Read AG Suthers’ appeal in the Boulder gay marriage case

Ortiz’s office received an e-mail from the AG’s office on Friday, asking him to review a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that ordered Denver to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses. Suthers’ office asked Ortiz to alert them of his decision no later than noon on Monday, so they could “take appropriate legal action if necessary.”

The AG’s office said Ortiz’ decision to stop will help avoid “further wasteful litigation.”

“We are gratified that Clerk Ortiz has recognized that he needs to be on the right side of the law,” Suthers’ office said in a statement. “No matter one’s views on the issue of same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court of Colorado has made clear that until it has had a chance to rule on the merits, clerks must enforce the state’s laws, which are still in effect.”

Boulder Clerk and Recorder Hillary Hall received the same message from Suthers on Monday but rejected his demand to stop issuing licenses.

“As I have stated before, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals stated that marriage is a fundamental right,” Hall said in a statement. “I think the least harmful and most sensible solution is to issue marriage licenses and avoid the potential of more civil rights violations while this plays out in court. And that is what we intend to do.”

Suthers then filed a motion asking the Colorado Court of Appeals to stop Hall from issuing licenses.

On July 10, Boulder District Court Judge Andrew Hartman rejected a request by the state to stop Hall. Suthers also filed a motion in Boulder District Court, asking Hartman to reconsider his order, given Friday’s ruling by the state Supreme Court.

Hall began issuing same-sex marriage licenses on June 25, after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Utah’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order that prevents such marriages from going forward in Utah for now.

Ortiz and Denver County Clerk and Recorder Debra Johnson began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples the same day Hartman issued his ruling.

More than 300 same-sex marriage licenses have been issued in Colorado since June. To date, the question of their validity has not been addressed in court.

On Friday, the state Supreme Court rejected Suthers’ request to order all 64 clerks to quit approving the licenses and instead ordered only Denver and Adams county to stop. The Adams clerk had not started issuing the licenses, and Johnson stopped issuing licenses on Friday.

The high court ruled that only Denver and Adams county clerks are parties to the case currently before it. In that case, Adams County District Court Judge C. Scott Crabtree ruled the state’s voter-approved ban unconstitutional, but he immediately stayed his ruling.

Jordan Steffen: 303-954-1794, jsteffen@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jsteffendp