U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is giving Florida attorney general Pam Bondi’s petition to keep marriage equality on hold the time of day.
On Dec. 16, Thomas requested that the plaintiffs respond to Bondi’s attempt to extend the stay on same-sex marriages that would otherwise expire end of day Jan. 5, 2015. Thomas has set a deadline of 5 p.m. Dec. 18 for that response.
On Dec. 3, the 11th District Court of Appeals denied the state’s previous request to extend a stay on same-sex marriages. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled in August that Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
That ruling is the result of two lawsuits. One, filed by the ACLU on behalf of eight married same-sex couples and SAVE, a South Florida LGBT rights organization, fought for the marriage recognition for gay couples legally married out-of-state. The other lawsuit was filed in Jacksonville on behalf of two couples, one who wants to get married and one who wants their marriage recognized in the state of Florida.
