The United States Supreme Court today did what two other federal courts would not and put the brakes on gay marriage in Utah. ---

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who reviewed arguments by the state and attorneys representing same-sex couples last week, levied the ruling, which prevents any further gay marriages from taking place in the Beehive State until a higher court can hear the appeal.

The state of Utah had for weeks scrambled to undo, if only temporarily, what U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby did when he ruled on Dec. 20 that Utah's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Since then, nearly 1,000 same-sex couples have wed.

Utah first sought a stay from Shelby, who refused. Then, the Federal Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver, turned the state down three times, sending the state to the U.S. Supreme Court.