DETROIT – Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette kicked off his re-election bid on Monday, ducking questions on this past weekend's flurry of same-sex marriages -- are they valid?
"The courts are going to have to sort that out and that's ... my position is the courts are going to have to sort that out," he said.
Professor Larry Dubin, of the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Law, believes the marriages will be recognized for now, at least under federal law.
Couples tied the knot before a federal appeals court issued a temporary stay on Friday's ruling to overturn Michigan's ban on gay marriage.
View/download: Judge's ruling
The appeals court will decide as early as Wednesday whether to continue the stay.
"The state has to convince the court of appeals that in spite of a district court judge, who gave a rather stinging opinion against the position of the state, that the state believes based upon that record that they can be successful," said Dubin.
Dubin points out that stays have been granted around the country in similar cases.
"I think there is some additional pressure on the court of appeals to stay the proceeding, and that is the United States Supreme Court stayed the proceeding out of Utah," he said.
In Utah, about 1,000 couples who married during a two-week window are now in limbo.
Complete coverage: Fight over Michigan's gay marriage ban
Schuette says his own vies on same-sex marriage have no bearing on his decision to appeal the ruling.
"I took an oath. I took an oath as attorney general to protect and defend the constitution and I'm going to fulfill that oath," he said.