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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah spent $1.2 million to defend its ban on same-sex marriage in the courts, more than twice what it set aside.
State lawmakers budgeted $500,000 to fight the legal challenge to Utah's law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
The state hired outside attorneys, including appellate and Supreme Court expert Gene Schaerr, to handle Utah's appeal of a federal court decision overturning the law. Utah lost that battle and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the case last October, making gay marriage legal in the state.
The legislative appropriation nearly covered the $550,100 cost for the contract attorneys, according to an analysis presented to the Legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.
The attorney general's office paid for other expenses and office attorneys and staff working on the case totaling $624,200 from its budget, according to the report.
In addition to Schaerr, the state hired former Michigan Solicitor General John Bursch and Idaho attorney Monte Neil Stewart for the appeal. Stewart helped lead the campaign for Utah's voter-approved Amendment 3 in 2004.
A Supreme Court decision last month made same-sex marriage legal nationwide.
