California’s new Attorney General, Kamala Harris, asked the federal appeals court to lift its stay of Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and permit the state to begin marrying same-sex couples, specifically citing the Obama Administration’s decision on the Defense of Marriage Act legal defense last week.

Harris asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to let same-sex weddings resume in California while the court reviews Prop. 8. The case is on hold while the state Supreme Court decides whether the measure’s sponsors can appeal a federal judge’s decision declaring Prop. 8 unconstitutional.

Even if backers have legal standing, Harris said, “the likelihood that the appeal will succeed on the merits has been substantially diminished” by the Obama administration’s declaration last week that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.

UPDATE, via email from the American Foundation for Equal Rights:

“For 846 days, Proposition 8 has denied equality under the law to gay and lesbian couples,” she writes in her filing. “Each and every one of those days, same-sex couples have been denied their right to convene loved ones and friends to celebrate marriages sanctioned and protected by California law. Each one of those days, loved ones have been lost, moments have been missed, and justice has been denied.”