Justice Kennedy denies motion to halt California gay marriages

A last-ditch effort to reinstate California's gay marriage ban was turned back Sunday.

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy denied a request from Proposition 8 supporters to halt the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses in the country's most populous state.

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Gay marriage opponents had asked Kennedy to step in the day before.

Dozens of same-sex marriage ceremonies have taken place in California since Friday, days after the Supreme Court effectively allowed them to resume by dismissing an appeal of a lower court's order invalidating the ban.

More were expected to take place Sunday in San Francisco and elsewhere.

Gay marriage opponents had argued that the unions began three weeks too soon since the group still has 25 days to request another hearing, according to The Associated Press.

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The Supreme Court had said it would not make its Proposition 8 ruling final until that time as a formality.

But Kennedy still turned down the appeal, without additional comments.

“The more than 7 million Californians that voted to enact Proposition 8 deserve nothing short of the full respect and due process our judicial system provides,” Austin R. Nimocks, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement.