Idaho’s state Board of Examiners, which consists of the governor, the secretary of state, the attorney general and the state controller, has voted unanimously to approve the claim for $401,663 in attorney fees and costs in the state’s same-sex marriage litigation that a federal judge has order the state to pay the winning side in the case. Four Idaho couples sued, challenging Idaho’s ban on gay marriage as unconstitutional; they won their case in federal court last May. The state appealed unsuccessfully to the 9^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and is now pressing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court; same-sex marriage became legal in Idaho on Oct. 15.

The order for attorney fees and costs is just for the portion of the case in U.S. District Court in Idaho, not for the appeals. Board of Examiners members asked no questions about the matter at their meeting this morning, and approved the payment without comment. A memo from the state Division of Financial Management asked the board to approve the claim and refer it to the Constitutional Defense Council for consideration of payment. That council consists of the governor, the attorney general, the speaker of the House and the president pro-tem of the Senate.

The council can convene on the call of any member and can make payments from the state’s Constitutional Defense Fund by majority vote. That fund currently has a balance of nearly $1.7 million, after lawmakers agreed to transfer another $1 million into it last year from the state’s general fund. Gov. Butch Otter, asked by reporters yesterday whether he thought more money needed to be deposited into the fund as he continues his court fight against same-sex marriage, said no. “I believe … that there is plenty of money in the constitutional defense fund,” Otter said.