Colo. Leaders Seek Same-Sex Marriage Resolution

Colorado's Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and Republican Attorney General John W. Suthers have asked a federal court to issue an injunction declaring the state's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

However, they're also asking the court to delay implementing the ruling until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the issue.

The state's voters approved the measure in 2006.

In the motion filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Denver, the attorney general's office argued that without an injunction the legal uncertainty would "invite a race to the clerks' office" with couples seeking licenses before the issue is resolved by higher courts.

Dan Domenico, Colorado's solicitor general, said halting the litigation would be beneficial to both sides.

"We hope and believe that if granted, today's motion will help end the divisive, costly, and now unnecessary litigation regarding same-sex marriage in Colorado," he said in a statement.

The battle over same-sex marriage in Colorado and other western states has been working its way through the federal court system.