The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday immediately lifted a stay on same-sex marriages in California following the US Supreme Court’s dismissal of an appeal of Proposition 8 earlier this week.

In the case Hollingsworth v. Perry, a three-judge panel on Friday issued an order stating that the stay that the Ninth Circuit had placed on the case previously was dissolved effective immediately.

Proposition 8, passed by California voters in November 2008, banned same-sex marriage in the state.

In 2010, federal district court Judge Vaughn Walker had ruled Proposition 8 was unconstitutional in 2010, but Proposition 8 backers appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court which, in turn,  implemented a stay on the district court's ruling.

That led to the Supreme Court ruling this week that Proposition 8’s backers did not have the legal standing to defend its constitutionality when state officials have chosen not to do so, leading to the case’s dismissal.

The Supreme Court’s action put the case back in the hands of the Ninth Circuit Court, which had to lift the stay before same-sex marriages could resume.

Earlier this week, Ninth Circuit Court spokesman David Madden told Lake County News that it was normal procedure for the court to wait to receive a notice and judgment from the Supreme Court – which provides a 25-day period in which a party can petition for a rehearing – before taking action.

At the same time, California Attorney General Kamala Harris has asked the court to immediately lift the stay, saying that same-sex couples “have waited long enough for their full civil rights.”

Gov. Jerry Brown this week directed the California Department of Public Health to advise the state’s counties that they must begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in California as soon as the Ninth Circuit lifted the stay.

Brown followed up by issuing a letter to county clerks and recorders on Friday afternoon reporting that the stay had been lifted and that same-sex marriage was again legal in California.

“Effective immediately, county clerks shall issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in California,” he wrote.

Cathy Saderlund, Lake County's auditor-controller/county clerk, told Lake County News this week that her department was prepared to issue marriage license to same-sex couples as soon as they were given the final go-ahead.

By that point, Saderlund said her office already had received several inquiries from same-sex couples interested in getting a marriage license.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.