High court clears way for gay marriage in Wisconsin, 4 other states

The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for an immediate expansion of same-sex marriage, turning away appeals from five states seeking to prohibit gay and lesbian unions.

The court's order effectively makes gay marriage legal in 30 states.

Related: Wisconsin plaintiffs hope fight for marriage is won soon

Without comment, the justices brought to an end delays in same-sex marriages in five states — Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

"I think it's wonderful," said Carol Schumacher, who's pressed for legalization of same-sex marriage for almost four decades. She married her partner Virginia Wolf in Minnesota last year; the Supreme Court's decision today made it official in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where they live now.

"I think you're going to see a lot of weddings going on and a lot of celebration," said Schumacher. "That will be just a wonderful thing, just like it was in Minnesota when Minnesota allowed same sex marriages."

In Wisconsin a 2006 statewide referendum limited marriage to a man and woman.

Wisconsin Family Action, among the most vocal supporters of that ban said in a statement issued that the Supreme Court's decision was profoundly disappointing.

The organization still hopes the Supreme Court will rule on same sex marriage, and that the ban may yet be reinstated.

Officials in Wisconsin weren't waiting. Within minutes of the release of the court's decision in Washington, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell was ready to start issuing licenses to same sex couples. Again.

McDonell said his office in Madison issued 215 licenses over the course of a week in June, after the initial court decision struck down the ban, but before an appeal put marriages on hold.

Town clerks in Superior, Hudson, La Crosse, Lancaster and Ellsworth, all in Wisconsin counties adjacent to Minnesota, said they were prepared to issue the licenses. But no one had come in to ask for one immediately following the Supreme Court decision.

Couples in six other states — Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming — should be able to get married in short order. Those states would be bound by the same appellate rulings that were put on hold pending the Supreme Court's review.

No other state cases were currently pending with the high court, but the justices stopped short of resolving for now the question of same-sex marriage nationwide. Still, those 11 states would bring to 30 the number of states where same-sex marriage is legal, plus the District of Columbia.

A decision to hear the cases may have resulted in a ruling that legalized same-sex marriage across the country.

American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin legal director Larry Dupuis said court judgments are pending in other states soon and will also likely be appealed to the Supreme Court.

"It's not the end of the line for sure," he said.

Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, called on the high court to "finish the job."

Wolfson said the court's "delay in affirming the freedom to marry nationwide prolongs the patchwork of state-to-state discrimination and the harms and indignity that the denial of marriage still inflicts on too many couples in too many places."

Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, an opponent of same-sex marriage, also chastised the court for its "irresponsible denial of review in the cases." Whelan said it is hard to see how the court could eventually rule in favor of same-sex marriage bans after having allowed so many court decisions striking down those bans to remain in effect.

Experts and advocates on both sides of the issue had expected the justices to step in and decide gay marriage cases this term.

The justices have an obligation to settle an issue of such national importance, not abdicate that responsibility to lower court judges, the advocates said. Opting out of hearing the cases leaves those lower court rulings in place.

Two other appeals courts, in Cincinnati and San Francisco, could issue decisions any time in same-sex marriage cases. Judges in the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit who are weighing pro-gay marriage rulings in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, appeared more likely to rule in favor of state bans than did the 9th Circuit judges in San Francisco, who are considering Idaho and Nevada restrictions on marriage.

It takes just four of the nine justices to vote to hear a case, but it takes a majority of at least five for an eventual ruling. Monday's opaque order did not indicate how the justices voted on whether to hear the appeals.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.