[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Alabama [official website] on Sunday put a two-week hold on a decision overturning Alabama’s same-sex marriage ban. Judge Callie VS Granade stated [AP report] that the two-week stay is not intended to become lengthy hold on current same-sex couples’ right to marry. Last week Grandade struck down [JURIST report] the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment and the Alabama Marriage Protection Act [text], ruling them unconstitutional. Applying strict scrutiny, Granade found the marriage laws violated the due process and equal protection clauses [Cornell LII backgrounders] of the Fourteenth Amendment [text] of the US Constitution. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange [official website] agrees with the hold but initially pushed [press release] for the decision not to go into effect until the US Supreme Court issues a decision on same-sex marriage this summer.

Same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] continues to be one of the most important topics in the US today. The Supreme Court agreed earlier this month to rule [JURIST report] on same-sex marriage, granting certiorari [order list, PDF] in four cases. The court consolidated appeals from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee after the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld bans [JURIST report] in those states. The court granted one hour and 90 minutes for oral arguments, which will likely be held in April with a decision expected in June. The four consolidated cases are Obergefell v. Hodges, Tanco v. Haslam, DeBoer v. Snyder and Bourke v. Beshear [dockets].