“Some same-sex couples have been married.” State lawyers say the trial court judge isn’t moving quickly enough on a similar request and that same-sex couples’ marriages conducted during this time, if the decision is later reversed, “may be void.”

Elenor Heyborne, left, and her partner Marina Gomberg apply for a marriage license at the Salt Lake County Clerk's office in Salt Lake City, Utah, December 20, 2013.

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Utah officials are asking the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop same-sex couples from marrying in the state immediately.

The overnight request came following a Friday afternoon ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby that the state's ban on same-sex couples marrying is unconstitutional. In Salt Lake City, dozens of same-sex couples married on Friday following the ruling.

State lawyers are arguing that the trial court judge isn't moving quickly enough on a similar request and that same-sex couples' marriages conducted in Utah during this time, if the decision is later reversed, "may be void."

In the late Friday night filing, Acting Attorney General Brian Tarbet argued that an emergency stay was needed from the 10th Circuit because Shelby already told lawyers for the state that he would not issue a stay of his ruling before receiving a written request for a stay — which the state has now filed — as well as receiving a response from the plaintiff same-sex couples in the case.

The state requested an emergency, temporary stay from the 10th Circuit until Shelby can resolve the request — technically asking "for stay pending the district court's consideration of a motion to stay."

The state argued to the 10th Circuit that the emergency stay is needed "in order to preserve the status quo" because "[i]n the event that the district court's decision is reversed, the licenses issued and the marriages performed in the absence of a stay may be void."

Whether given the emergency stay from the 10th Circuit or not, Tarbet wrote that his office would seek a stay from the 10th Circuit to last throughout its appeal of Shelby's decision should Shelby deny the state's request for such a stay.

What happened Friday, according to the state?

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“[Utah officials’] Emergency Motion for Temporary Stay poses no emergency.”

Kim Hackford-Peer, left, marries her partner Ruth Hackford-Peer, right, as Ruth holds their son Casey, 7, at the Salt Lake County office building in Salt Lake City, Utah, December 20, 2013.

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

Opponents of Utah's ban on same-sex couples' marriages told an appeals court Saturday that there is no reason for the court to grant state officials' request to immediately stop same-sex marriages there.

Following a Friday ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby striking down the state's 2004 amendment banning same-sex couples' marriages, couples in Salt Lake City began marrying. Before the day was out, though, Utah Acting Attorney General Brian Tarbet had filed requests with Shelby and with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, asking for the marriages to be stopped.

Lawyers for the plaintiff same-sex couples suing the state, though, told the 10th Circuit on Saturday that the emergency request should be denied.

"There is no need for this Court to step in given that the District Court is expeditiously moving forward to give Appellants a hearing on their request for a stay of the District Court's summary judgment order this coming Monday morning," the lawyers wrote.

Shelby's court scheduled a hearing for Monday on the state's request that his ruling be put on hold while the state appeals. Shelby ordered the plaintiffs to file their response to the state's request by 5 p.m. Sunday.

The request before the 10th Circuit is for an emergency stay to be put in place temporarily, until the request before Shelby can be resolved.

In Saturday's filing, the lawyers for the same-sex couples argued that the state's "failure to address the factors that this Court ordinarily considers in deciding whether to issue a stay of a district court order" should be "fatal" to the request.

Additionally, they wrote, the 10th Circuit previously has said that "the infringement of an important constitutional right 'for even minimal periods of time'" — which they argue would happen by putting in place a stay and stopping same-sex couples from marrying — "'unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury.'"

Although marriages were expected to be allowed in Weber County, Utah, on Saturday, and though a line formed outside the county building where same-sex couples were expecting to be issued marriage licenses, the county's clerk, Ricky Hatch, announced about 4 p.m. that the marriages would not be going forward until the county's normal hours of operations on Monday.

No other county offices were open to issue marriage licenses on Saturday.

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Ron Paul said his son will “probably” run for president. His son insists he isn’t so sure.

Andrew Burton / Getty Images

Ron Paul may be convinced his son is planning to run for president in 2016, but in a radio interview airing Sunday night, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul distanced himself from his father's prediction.

"He's one step ahead of where I am at this point," the younger Paul said on Aaron Klein's WABC show, a transcript of which was provided to BuzzFeed. "You know, we have thought about it. I've done some traveling. I am trying to figure out how we make the Republican message broad enough that we widen our base and are able to win national elections. But I wont make a serious decision about it probably until after the 2014 elections."

Ron Paul, a retired libertarian congressman who was a perennial presidential protest candidate, told CNN earlier this month that his son "probably will" seek the presidency in 2016. While many see the Kentucky senator as a logical heir to his father's base of libertarian ideologues, Rand has sought with some success to present himself as a more pragmatic politician with broader appeal — breaking with the GOP on certain high-profile national security issues, and with his father on more fringe elements of his platform.

But Paul reiterated in the WABC interview that any decision he makes will be done with his whole family in mind — not just his dad.

"And really there is a lot of discussion," he said. "It's not an easy decision to make. I know I want to be part of making the country better. Getting our economy back growing again. Back to the belief in a Constitutional limited government and balanced budgets. But there is also a toll on your family in undertaking something like this. And so we'll probably not know for about a year exactly what our decision is."

Speaking in Detroit earlier this month, the younger Paul suggested his wife, Kelley Ashby, is less than enthusiastic about the prospect of a 2016 campaign.

"If I'm a very able politician," Paul said. I'll tell you in a year whether I'm able to persuade my wife. Right now, I don't know yet, but I thank you for your interest."

Although the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the emergency request, the trial court in the Utah marriage case is due to hear arguments Monday on the state’s request to stop marriages during the appeal of the case. The same-sex couples’ lawyers respond: “The State Defendants’ trivialize Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights when they argue that a stay ‘at most’ would lead to a delay in their ability to exercise those rights.”

Ruth Hackford-Peer (left) and Kim Hackford-Peer sign their marriage certificate after getting married as Reverend Curtis Price watches at the Salt Lake County office building in Salt Lake City, Utah, Dec. 20, 2013.

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

Two judges of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held Saturday that they would not grant Utah officials' emergency request to stop same-sex couples from marrying at this time.

The denial means that a Friday court order striking down the state's ban on same-sex couples marrying — leading at least some counties to begin granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples — likely will remain in place at the beginning of office hours Monday, meaning more marriages at that time.

Judges Jerome Holmes and Robert Bacharach, in an order signed by court clerk Elisabeth Shumaker for the court, held that the because the state's request "does not meet the requirements of the Federal or local appellate rules governing a request for a stay," the court was denying the motion.

"Defendants-Appellants acknowledge that they have not addressed, let alone satisfied, the factors that must be established to be entitled to a stay pending appeal," the court held. The factors include a showing by the party asking for a stay that they are likely to succeed on appeal, that they would suffer "irreparable injury" if they do not get a stay, that other parties would not injure other parties, and an assessment of where the "public interest" lies.

The judges wrote that the state could refile a similar motion at a later point so long as it complied with the court's rules. Holmes was appointed to the appellate court by President George W. Bush; Bacharach was appointed by President Obama.

The Sunday developments followed a Friday ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby striking down the state's 2004 amendment banning same-sex couples' marriages, which led couples in Salt Lake City to begin marrying. Before the day was out, though, Utah Acting Attorney General Brian Tarbet had filed requests with Shelby and with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, asking for the marriages to be stopped.

The plaintiff same-sex couples opposed the request before the 10th Circuit on Saturday and filed opposition to the request before Shelby on Sunday afternoon.

In their filing before the trial court, the plaintiff same-sex couples argued against the state's request to put a hold on his order pending the state's appeal of the case to the 10th Circuit. The plaintiffs argue that the state has made no "strong showing" that it is likely to succeed in its appeal of the case, that the state is not harmed without a stay, that the public interest is harmed by a stay and that the plaintiffs would be "irreparably harmed" by a stay.

"The State Defendants' [sic] trivialize Plaintiffs' constitutional rights when they argue that a stay 'at most' would lead to a delay in their ability to exercise those rights," the lawyers for the couples write. "Not only do the State Defendants ignore that every day a citizen is deprived of constitutional rights causes irreparable harm, but they ignore their own admission of the actual harm Plaintiffs have suffered."

Shelby is due to consider the state's request for a stay pending appeal at 9 a.m. Monday. If he denies that request, it is likely that the state will ask the 10th Circuit grant a stay while it considers the appeal of the case.

Read the 10th Circuit order:

Read the plaintiff's opposition at the trial court to the state's request for a stay pending appeal:

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A top Democrat is ready to go on offense over economic inequality — if not to speak those words. “There’s no way [the GOP] can sort of escape it.”

Yuri Gripas / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Democrats will seek to turn the 2014 midterm elections into a war over the minimum wage and other economic policy issues linked to the vast gap between rich and poor — but top officials say they will cast these issues in relentlessly practical terms, and shy away from the larger arguments about the American economic system.

"I wouldn't call it 'income inequality' so much, although that is certainly true," Schumer said Friday in an interview with BuzzFeed. "Because most Americans don't care how other people are doing, if they're doing okay. But when middle class incomes are declining, that's a very bad thing. And the country's really never experienced it."

"It's a more important issue than the deficit, and I believe that's what we ought to be focusing on for all of next year," he said.

Schumer said the time is politically right for a fight over wages, unemployment benefits, and the minimum wage — while shying away from the more abstract language and arguments that have rallied the progressive movement behind Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. Schumer said Democrats will kick off their year of economic populism with a focus on the minimum wage. He expects Senate action to begin on the topic as soon as members return from their holiday break. "It will be one of the issues we spend a lot of time on" in the first Senate session after the holidays, he said.

But even as the Democratic Party, led by the White House, prepares for an election cycle dominated by talk of growing divide between rich and poor, there are signs that the party is wary of engaging in the kind of rhetorical battle Republicans brand "class warfare."

Schumer said the best way to "encapsulate" the wage rhetoric is with a push to raise the minimum wage.

"Even though most of the people at the median income don't make minimum wage, they understand exactly what it means," Schumer said. "And almost all Americans feel that if you work 40 hours a week you ought to be able to provide a life of dignity, certainly not wealth, but some decency and some dignity to yourself and your family."

Last week, Schumer said talk of the minimum wage and economic populism will define 2014, outlining a strategy progressives and Democrats say will supersede Republican efforts to make the election about the failed rollout of Obamacare.

"Issues like job creation, minimum wage, and unemployment insurance are going to weigh on the minds of voters far more than Obamacare by the time the 2014 elections roll around," Schumer said at a Dec. 19 press conference.

In his own end of year press conference Friday, Obama touched on economic populist issues when outlining his plans for 2014 as a "year of action."

"We've got work to do to create more good jobs, to help more Americans earn the skills and education they need to do those jobs and to make sure that those jobs offer the wages and benefits that let families build a little bit of financial security," Obama said.

But Obama didn't mention the phrase "minimum wage," "income equality" or "poverty" in the presser, choosing to devote more attention to immigration reform — an area where Democrats desperately want a win, or at the very least, a renewed (and Latino-vote activating) bitter partisan political fight. Advocates for increasing the minimum wage were not concerned. Unemployment insurance — another intensely practical subject, immediate to millions — is the immediate political fight of the moment, and the economic populists were happy to see Obama contenting his support for it.

"The single most galling, time-sensitive and easy to fix calamity in our messed-up politics is the failure to renew unemployment insurance," said Jeff Hauser, a top spokesperson for the AFL-CIO, "and we appreciate the resident underscoring the urgency of addressing that before more than 1.3 million Americans lose insurance through no fault of their own."

Advocates for an increase in the minimum wage say Obama's increasing focus on the topic — and anticipated push for it in 2014 — is the result of years of work by progressives, who have been turning their attention to income disparity issues more and more since the Occupy Wall Street movement reenergized a fundamental branch of the political left. A fight between Elizabeth Warren and the New Democrat group Third Way earlier this month was the latest sign of a shift among mainstream Democrats away from Wall Street wooing toward a populist message that can sometimes leave a bad taste in the mouth of the wealthy who fuel campaign spending.

Progressives are especially heartened by the White House decision to bring in Center For American Progress chairman John Podesta to guide the Obama administration through the election season. To the economic populist left, the move is a clear sign that Obama is more than just talk on issues like the minimum wage. Progressives speak of outreach from the White House unprecedented in the early years of the Obama administration, when the White House was run by chiefs of staff like Rahm Emanuel and Bill Daley. Conversations with progressive leaders in the days leading up to Obama's end-of-year presser found a sense of excitement about the year ahead and high expectations.

Schumer said the political conditions are right for a battle over wages. The veteran of many a Senate battle said next year's fight over the minimum wage will be different than previous battles.

"It has far greater resonance today than it did even years ago," he said. "The issue of decline of income for 90% of the American public or 80% of the American public is so salient."

The minimum wage also has the added benefit of providing a clear divide between Democrats and the GOP, Schumer said.

"There's no way [the GOP] can sort of escape it," Schumer said with a chuckle. "They're either for it or against it. They say 'we'd rather do tax breaks for small business.' That's not gonna push minimum wage off the table, whatever you think of tax breaks for small business."

Who knew!?

Your friendly federal government auction site wants to stock you up with last minute, unique Christmas SWAG for your loved ones!

Do you need your own CH-47D Chinook?

gsaauctions.gov

gsaauctions.gov

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Meet The Press will never be the same .

A peppy Mika Brzezinski vs. grumptastic Joe Scarborough on Way Too Early.

When Joe and Mika learned about swants.

The portrait of Joe over the digital fireplace.

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Snowden would never trade information for asylum, says his lawyer.

Bobby Yip / Reuters

Edward Snowden is not requesting asylum in Germany in exchange for helping the country investigate National Security Agency surveillance, Snowden's lawyer says, contradicting reports in the Russian news media.

"Edward Snowden would never offer information in exchange for asylum and he has never suggested otherwise," ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner, who represents Snowden, told BuzzFeed. "Reports to the contrary are false."

Germany was one of the countries where Snowden applied for asylum back when he was living in Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. But he is not currently renewing that request, his lawyer said.

"He applied when he was in the airport but not since," Wizner said.

Both Russia Today and Life News, an outlet known for its close ties to Russian security services, reported that Snowden is offering Germany help with its inquiry into National Security Agency spying in exchange for permanent asylum. The information is based off an interview Snowden did with the German Stern magazine. Russia Today reports, "The former NSA contractor also wrote that he would be willing to help German officials investigate alleged NSA spying in Germany, if he is granted asylum."

Wizner provided BuzzFeed with an email from the Stern reporter in which the reporter told him, "The headline below doesn't cover our story accurately. We just said that ES would accept asylum from Germany without hesitation because he would trust the German government not to extradite him to the US. We also mentioned that he doubts the willingness of the US Congress to reform intelligence policy."

Snowden wrote a similar letter to the people of Brazil last week that was widely interpreted as a quid pro quo request for asylum, though journalist Glenn Greenwald said that was not the case.

In November, the Guardian reported that Snowden "indicated his own willingness to speak as a witness to the Bundestag" after German lawmakers mulled ways to bring him to Germany to testify in front of parliament on NSA spying.

"What has been omitted from the reporting is the key context that Senators and other officials from both Germany and Brazil have been vigorously pursuing Snowden for months to try to get him to participate in their investigations, answer questions, attend hearings, etc.," said Greenwald. "He wrote those letters to explain why he **cannot** participate in those investigations even though he'd like to: namely, because his situation is so precarious because he lacks permanent asylum anywhere."

Greenwald flagged an interview with Brazilian TV Snowden did yesterday in which he said, "I would never exchange information for asylum, and I'm sure the Brazilian government wouldn't either."

"It's genuinely shocking how false the reporting from the U.S. media has been on this," Greenwald said.

Greenwald said he didn't know why Russian media was jumping on the Germany story now and thought they were "re-cycling" stories about what happened in November.

The Kentucky senator has a few problems with Washington.

Festivus is of course the fake holiday from the show Seinfeld.

youtube.com

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“[U]nder the Constitution of the United States, Ohio must recognize on Ohio death certificates valid same-sex marriages from other states.”

Ohio officials must recognize the marriages of same-sex couples who married out of state for purposes of being considered married on death certificates, a federal judge ruled on Monday.

Judge Timothy Black had granted a temporary injunction for a couple seeking such a ruling earlier, but on Monday made the injunction against county and state officials permanent.

Black explained that the case was not about marriage, but rather about "the right to remain married":

In explaining the narrow scope of the case — which only sought a ruling regarding the treatment of death certificates in light of Ohio's constitutional amendment and statute banning recognition of same-sex couples' marriages — Black wrote:

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How has it taken so long to see this?

All he really needs now is a mustache.

Via Twitter: @jaketapper

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Updated: State officials in Utah have filed an appeal, are seeking a stay from the 10th Circuit, and the plaintiffs have opposed the request for a stay.

Jax Collins (left) and Heather Collins get married at the Salt Lake County Government Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, Dec. 23, 2013.

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby refused Monday to put his order that same-sex couples in Utah be allowed to marry on hold while the state appeals the Friday decision.

"The court denies the defendant's motion to stay. An order will be issued by the court," an entry on the court's docket noted late Monday afternoon.

After a weekend flurry of requests to halt the marriages, same-sex couples began marrying Monday morning in several Utah counties — weddings that will continue, for now at least, following Shelby's Monday ruling — reported from Utah by Fox 13's Ben Winslow.

Shelby, who ruled Friday that the state's 2004 ban on same-sex couples marrying was unconstitutional, ruled Monday morning that the state had not made the case for a stay of that ruling while the case is appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

State officials will now take that request — called a stay pending appeal — to the 10th Circuit itself, which has stated that it would consider such a request if denied by Shelby.

Update - 2:40 p.m. ET: State officials have filed their request for a stay of the trial court order pending appeal with the 10th Circuit — along with a request for a temporary stay while that request is being considered.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs have responded, stating that they will file an opposition to the state's request by the end of the day Monday.

Update - 3:30 p.m. ET: The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered that any response by the plaintiffs to the state's request be filed by 5 p.m. MT Monday.

Update - 7:05 p.m. ET: The plaintiffs filed their opposition at 4:59 p.m. MT.

Update - 8:45 p.m. ET: Judge Shelby's written order denying the state's stay request notes that "the status quo is currently that same-sex couples are allowed to marry in the State of Utah."

He began his order by making clear that the state only asked for a stay of the order after the decision was issued Friday, writing, "The court's Order did not include a stay of its judgment as none had been requested by the State."

In describing the harms faced by same-sex couples if Shelby were to have issued a stay, he wrote, "[S]ome couples, including Plaintiffs Karen Archer and Kate Call, may be facing serious illness or other issues that do not allow them the luxury of waiting for such a delay."

Read the transcript from the Monday morning trial court hearing on the stay request:

Read the trial court order denying the state's request for a stay:

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Congress is so magical!

fanpop.com

caller.com

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Can CNN’s versatile host make the Sunday political talk show something we might regret not watching?

Becoming the host of one is still the core status symbol for TV news journalists. But the shows as they stand right now are relics, with declining ratings and content that's usually already been thoroughly hashed out online and on cable by the time Sunday rolls around. There's very little innovation right now in the format.

Seriously, what's the point of having them at all the way they are right now?

Via reactiongifcollection.tumblr.com

Probably not. They'll continue to pencil these shows into the schedule and sell them to viewers as the most prestigious political show they have to offer. That doesn't mean they should ask us to sit back and enjoy another helping of John McCain and Lindsey Graham, though.

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“He was pleased to participate in a plan as a show of support,” a White House official said, of President Obama’s selection of a bronze-level health care plan. Obama will continue to receive care through the military.

The president leaving his Hawaii vacation home.

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

President Obama enrolled in the Obamacare health insurance exchanges over the weekend, the White House said Monday. The president selected a bronze-level plan on the D.C. marketplace.

The act largely will serve as a symbolic gesture because the president will continue to receive all his medical care through the military like previous presidents.

"The act of the president signing up for insurance coverage through the D.C. exchange is symbolic since the president's health care will continue to be provided by the military," a White House official said Monday. "But, he was pleased to participate in a plan as a show of support for these marketplaces which are providing quality, affordable health care options to more than a million people."

The president had to be enrolled in person because his personal information is not in government databases used by the federal exchanges to verify identities of website users.

Obama is currently on vacation with his family in Hawaii.

People now have until the end of Dec. 24 to sign up for plans that start Jan. 1.

Mike Segar / Reuters

The Obama administration has pushed backed the sign-up deadline for health care plans that start Jan. 1 by one day — from Dec. 23 to Christmas Eve.

The administration has not formally announced the change, and the official deadline remains Dec. 23, but Americans who enroll on Tuesday will now be able to get coverage beginning Jan. 1, the Washington Post reported Monday.

"Anticipating high demand and the fact that consumers may be enrolling from multiple time zones, we have taken steps to make sure that those who select a plan through tomorrow will get coverage for Jan. 1," a spokesperson for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services told the Post.

The deadline extension is the latest in a series of changes over the last month. Officials announced last week that some consumers whose plans had been canceled will be allowed to purchase "catastrophic" coverage. Previously, only people under the age of 30 or who had specific exemptions could purchase those plans, which provide much more limited coverage.

With no decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals at the end of the day Monday, more same-sex couples will be heading to clerks’ offices Tuesday to get married.

Andrea Dahl (left) marries Coral Mangus, her partner of 25 years, at the Salt Lake County Government Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, Dec. 23, 2013.

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

Same-sex couples got married throughout Utah on Monday, an unexpected 18th state with marriage equality in a year that saw success after success for marriage equality throughout the country.

The Monday marriages followed a weekend of wrangling over whether the Friday court ruling from U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby would remain in effect when clerks' offices opened Monday.

The lack of guidance from state officials in advising county officials about the impact of the ruling has caused most of the confusion experienced by same-sex couples in recent days. It also has empowered a handful of counties to decide they would refuse to marry same-sex couples — from outright refusal in places like Utah Country to Cache County's strategy of shutting the office to avoid questions altogether. Nonetheless, hundreds and hundreds of couples on Monday joined the 124 couples who married in Salt Lake County the day of Shelby's ruling.

On Monday afternoon, as marriages were ongoing, Shelby refused to put his ruling on hold while the state appeals it, particularly not on account of the state's argument that to do so would preserve the status quo. In fact, Shelby wrote, "[T]he status quo is currently that same-sex couples are allowed to marry in the State of Utah."

Now, the question about whether to issue a stay is before the judges of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Judges Jerome Holmes and Robert Bacharach, who have considered and denied two earlier requests from state officials to stop the weddings, ordered a response from the plaintiffs to the state's request by 5 p.m. MT, which they provided.

As Monday turned to Tuesday in Utah, there was no ruling from the court, raising the question: Will the federal appeals court that includes some of the most conservative states in the country stop marriages in a state that prides itself on how much it values family in a ruling it issues on Christmas Eve?

If they do issue a stay, they will be taking an action that will be seen by many as cutting off joy and harming families on a day associated with joy and celebration of family. As Shelby wrote in denying the stay, "[T]here is no dispute that same-sex couples face harm by not being allowed to marry."

Additionally, and to Shelby's "status quo" point, marriages between same-sex couples already exist now in Utah, and the judges — and state officials — would still have to face the issues that will come with already having more than 500 legally married same-sex couples in Utah even if they do issue a stay.

Isaac Troyo (left) and his partner Jed Mecham get married at the Salt Lake County Government Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, Dec. 23, 2013.

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

If the 10th Circuit doesn't issue a stay on Tuesday, however, issuing a stay later to hold off any more marriages throughout the appeal could prove even more difficult because the state would have gone several days with such marriages being allowed before cutting them off. The ruling won't come Christmas Day, so, even if it comes on Thursday, that still means there are likely to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 married same-sex couples in the state.

That alone would dramatically change the conversation in the state as the case proceeds. But Utahns are not even alone. To Utah's west, Nevada has comprehensive domestic partnership benefits and an ongoing marriage equality lawsuit now at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. To Utah's east, Colorado has civil unions. Nearby New Mexico now has marriage equality.

What's more, the married couples in Utah are going to seek, and almost certainly receive, federal benefits of marriage in the wake of June's Supreme Court ruling striking down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Recognition of same-sex couples' relationships is becoming an expectation — no longer an outlier — even in Utah.

Shelby's ruling took effect immediately because, as he noted in his order Monday, the state had not asked for a stay in advance of his ruling. Regardless of the reason, though, Utah changed on Friday night when same-sex couples began marrying there.

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The happiest time of year.

Socks, the Clinton White House cat peaks into his stocking….

National Archives

…and poses flawlessly in front of the White House Christmas tree.

National Archives

George H.W. Bush reads Christmas stories to his grandchildren at Camp David.

Bush Presidential Library

Gerald Ford kisses his wife during a Christmas ski vacation in Colorado.

Ford Presidential Library / Via aol.com

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Bill de Blasio’s daughter, Chiara, opens up on dealing with mental illness and drugs and alcohol abuse in a new video she posted to YouTube Tuesday. Reporters had been sniffing around the rumors, but the de Blasio family decided to get in front of the story.

youtube.com

A Christmas Eve order from the 10th Circuit. Update: State officials say they will ask the Supreme Court to step in.

Nicole Barnes, left, and her partner Tarah Camarillo exchange rings as they get married at the Salt Lake County Government Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, December 23, 2013.

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the state of Utah's request to stop same-sex couples' marriages during the appeal of the judge's ruling that started those marriages on Friday.

"Having considered the district court's decision and the parties' arguments concerning the stay factors, we conclude that a stay is not warranted," Judges Jerome Holmes and Robert Bacharach wrote in an order signed by court clerk Elisabeth Shumaker for the court.

The denial means that a Friday decision by Judge Robert Shelby striking down the state's ban on same-sex couples marrying will remain in place during the appeal of the case, absent a contrary ruling from the Supreme Court — to which Utah officials say they will appeal.

"[Y]es the office is appealing the denial of a stay by the 10th Circuit Court. We will aim to file thursday," Utah Attorney General's Office spokesman Ryan Bruckman told BuzzFeed in an email.

Interim requests of the type that would be filed in this situation would go to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who oversees such requests from the 10th Circuit. She could either decide the matter on her own or refer the matter to the whole court for consideration.

Shelby denied a request Monday for a stay of his ruling during the appeal, and state officials appealed to the 10th Circuit for a stay within hours of that ruling.

Because of that Monday denial, most counties in the state were allowing same-sex couples to marry on Tuesday. Additionally, an email sent from the Utah governor's chief of staff to cabinet officers on Tuesday urged "compliance with the federal judge's ruling until such time that the current district court decision is addressed by the 10th Circuit Court." In light of the decision of the 10th Circuit Tuesday night, that compliance order would appear to be ongoing.

Here's the key part of tonight's brief order:

Read the appeals court order:

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