California – A federal appeals court decided Monday to put same-gender marriage in California on hold at least until December, interrupting the wedding plans of scores of Toeiva couples who were hoping to exchange vows later this week.

The brief order by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals prevents an early showdown on the marriage question at the U.S. Supreme Court. Challengers of the marriage ban said they would not appeal Monday’s order.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker decided Aug. 4 that Proposition 8 violated the U.S. Constitution and later ordered same-gender marriage to resume at 5 p.m. Wednesday unless a higher court intervened. The panel’s decision gave no explanation for staying Walker’s order directing the state to once again allow same-gendercouples to marry.

The panel said the court would hear the Proposition 8 challenge on an expedited basis and hold arguments the week of Dec. 6. Another panel of three judges is expected to rule on the appeal.

The proponents of Proposition 8 won an early round at the Supreme Court in January, just as Walker was to begin hearing trial testimony about Proposition 8. The court ruled 5 to 4, with Kennedy in the majority, to overturn a decision by Walker to permit portions of the testimony to be broadcast.

The 9th Circuit panel, which legal analysts said included a conservative, a moderate and a liberal, also indicated that the court has serious questions about whether the Proposition 8 sponsors have legal authority to appeal Walker’s conclusions about the constitutionality of the ban.

The court ordered ProtectMarriage to address why it believes it has legal authority to appeal in its opening brief. Normally, only those directly affected by a judge’s order can appeal.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, the defendants in the case, have refused to do so and instead called for same-gender marriages to resume as soon as possible.

(Source: LA Times)