On July 1, 2014, several same-sex couples living in Colorado filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against state and county officials. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, claimed that Colorado's same-sex marriage ban violated their constitutional rights under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. They asked the court to declare the ban unconstitutional, to enjoin the defendants from enforcing it, and to order the defendants to issue marriage licenses to eligible same-sex applicants and to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages.

On July 11, 2014, Judge Robert E. Blackburn recused himself and the case was reassigned to Judge Raymond P. Moore. On July 23, 2014, Judge Moore granted the plaintiffs' preliminary injunction, which forbid the defendants from enforcing the same-sex marriage ban. However, the court stayed the injunction until August 25, 2014. Judge Moore also granted the defendants' motion to stay all other proceedings in the case until three days after the final mandate was issued in a similar case, Kitchen v. Herbert (PB-UT-0001 in this Clearinghouse).

On August 21, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit stayed Judge Moore's preliminary injunction pending the Colorado Attorney General's appeal of the order. On September 18, 2014, the Tenth Circuit abated the appeal pending further order of the court.

On October 6, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court denied petitions for writ of certiorari in two cases, Herbert and Smith v. Bishop (PB-OK-0001 in this Clearinghouse), in which the Tenth Circuit held that Utah and Oklahoma's same-sex marriage bans were unconstitutional. Herbert v. Kitchen, 135 S. Ct. 271 (2014); Smith v. Bishop, 135 S. Ct. 271 (2014). By declining to hear those cases, the Supreme Court let the lower court decisions stand: same-sex marriage was effectively legalized in those states. In response, on October 7, 2014, the Tenth Circuit dismissed the appeal in this case, granting the Colorado Attorney General's motion.

Ten days later, on October 17, the District Court (Judge Raymond P. Moore) permanently enjoined the defendants from enforcing Colorado's same-sex marriage ban, ordered the court clerk to enter judgement for the plaintiffs, and awarded the plaintiffs attorneys' fees and costs, granting the defendants' unopposed motion. Eventually the parties settled and Judge Moore dismissed the case on January 28, 2015.

Megan Dolan - 07/24/2014
David Hamstra - 04/15/2015


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