Pam Bondi Wants Supreme Court to Stay Same-Sex Marriage Decision

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Monday that her office has asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of a federal decision which would allow same-sex marriage in the Sunshine State. Under the current decision, the amendment to the Florida Constitution recognizing only traditional marriage approved by voters at the ballot box in 2008 will come to an end on 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, Bondis office announced on Monday. 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.

In a continuation of the effort to maintain uniformity and order throughout Florida until final resolution of the numerous challenges to the voter-approved constitutional amendment on marriage, the attorney generals office filed with the United States Supreme Court an application to extend the stay, Bondi added. If the Supreme Court grants the application, the stay will remain in place during the state's appeal. If the Supreme Court denies the stay, then the preliminary injunction will become effective at the end of the day on Jan. 5, 2015.