Pam Bondi Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Extend Gay Marriage Ban

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has filed an emergency request with the U.S. Supreme Court to keep the state’s ban on gay marriage in place past a Jan. 5 deadline.

That request was filed Monday with U.S. Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas, who handles oversight of emergency appeals from Florida and a few other southern states, ABC News reported.

Bondi has asked for the stay on the ban’s removal to remain in place until an appeal of U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle’s August ruling can be heard, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Hinkle ruled the state’s voter-backed ban was unconstitutional, but stayed enforcement until Jan. 5.

“When the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida ordered the Washington County Clerk of Court to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple, it temporarily stayed the order,” Bondi’s office explained in a media release about the requested extension. “That stay is now set to expire at the end of the day on Jan. 5, 2015. The recent decision denying a longer stay has created statewide confusion about the effect of the injunction, which is directed to only one of Florida’s sixty-seven clerks of court.”

Bondi’s office went on to say the request to the Supreme Court is meant to “maintain uniformity and order throughout Florida until final resolution of the numerous challenges to the voter-approved constitutional amendment on marriage (can be settled).”

If the application is granted by the Supreme Court, the ban will remain in place. If it’s denied, gay marriages would effectively become legal in Florida starting Jan. 6.

There’s no word yet on when or if the Supreme Court will take action on Bondi’s request.

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