Utah headed to Supreme Court after appeals court refuses to stop same-sex weddings

  Jim Urquhart/ReutersJax Collins and Heather Collins were married Monday at the Salt Lake County Government Building after a federal judge Robert Shelby upheld his own order making same-sex marriage legal in Utah.By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC NewsUtah officials were busy Tuesday night planning an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal appeals court denied their request to stop same-sex marriages while they try to overturn a judge's ruling legalizing them.In a two-page order (.pdf) entered late Tuesday in Denver, two judges on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to grant Gov. Gary Herbert's request for a stay halting the marriages while Utah pursues its appeal. Herbert's office didn't return a call for comment, but the state attorney general's office — which filed the motion on his behalf — said it would seek an emergency stay with the Supreme Court as early as Thursday. That motion would be heard by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has jurisdiction over the 10th Circuit.Herbert asked for a stay Monday after U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby upheld his own ruling that Utah's ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional.The appeals judges, Robert E. Bacharach and Jerome A. Holmes, fast-tracked Utah's appeal, but they said they wouldn't stop the marriages in the meantime, writing that the state would have a tough time proving that letting the marriages go ahead would cause "irreparable harm" or that it had a good shot at winning its appeal.Bacharach was appointed to the court by President Barack Obama; Holmes was appointed by President George W. Bush. While it prepares its Supreme Court motion,  the attorney general's office issued an advisory opinion telling county clerks that they could be held in contempt of court if they refused to issue marriage licenses. And Herbert's chief of staff sent a message telling state agencies that "where no conflicting laws exist you should conduct business in compliance with the federal judge's ruling until such time that the current district court decision is addressed by the 10th Circuit Court."The state Workforce Services Department said it would recognize the marriages as establishing eligibility for food stamps and other benefits.Hundreds of same-sex couples raced to county clerks' offices to get wedding licenses after Shelby's ruling Monday. Salt Lake County alone issued 353 licenses Monday, NBC station KSL of Salt Lake City reported — 4½ times its previous single-day record for marriage licenses.The Rev. Curtis Price was waiting in the lobby of the Salt Lake County Government Building to marry Shauna Griffen and Brooke Shepherd, who'd spent the night waiting in line wearing matching shirts proclaiming "Love conquers hate.""It was a long night. We were worried," Griffen told KSL. "I had faith in Salt Lake County — they came through."Watch the top videos on NBCNews.comThis story was originally published on Tue Dec 24, 2013 7:44 PM EST

Rod Blagojevich corruption appeal to be heard by US appeals court

a  Charles Rex Arbogast / AP fileFormer Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich pictured in 2012 on his way to prison in Colorado.By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC NewsThe case of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will be back in court next month after a federal appeals court agreed Friday to hear arguments over whether to toss out his 2011 corruption conviction.In a brief ruling filed Friday in 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Chicago, the court set Dec. 13 for oral arguments on Blagojevich's contention that it should overturn his 14-year sentence to a federal penitentiary in Englewood, Colo.The mop-haired former politician has argued that he was simply engaging in standard political horse-trading when he was recorded wheeling and dealing for money and possibly a Cabinet position in return for appointing Valerie Jarrett to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate in 2008."It's a f---ing valuable thing," he was heard saying in a recording of a phone call played in court. "You just don't give it away for nothing." "If I don't get what I want ... I'll just take the Senate seat myself," he was recorded saying.Neither Jarrett — a senior adviser in the Obama White House — nor Obama have been accused of wrongdoing.Blagojevich eventually ended up appointing Roland Burris. After a legal battle, the appointment was upheld, and Burris served a little less than two years in the Senate. Blagojevich was impeached and later prosecuted.In an exhaustively detailed 169-page filing opposing Blagojevich's motion (PDF), Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Riggs Bonamici wrote that the "evidence was overwhelming" that Blagojevich broke the law by seeking to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder.She also noted that evidence at Blagojevich's trial showed that he had also been offered $1.5 million in campaign contributions from supporters of then-Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., if he would appoint Jackson to Obama's seat. "Blagojevich led, organized, and directed substantially more than five government and fundraising employees and outside consultants, whom he used to assist him in exchanging official acts for personal benefits," Bonamici wrote.Related:Former Illinois Gov. Blagojevich appeals corruption conviction, sentence