Bondi asks U.S. Supreme Court to maintain stay, prevent gay couples from marrying Jan. 6

Source: Miami Herald

Citing a potential for “statewide confusion,” Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to keep in place a stay that would prevent same-sex couples in Florida from marrying on Jan. 6.

“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. That stay is now set to expire at the end of the day on Jan. 5, 2015,” according to a news release from Bondi’s office. “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.”

The “statewide confusion” rests with a July 1 memo from top law firm Greenberg Traurig, which represents the Florida Association of Court Clerks.

In the memo to the clerk’s association, Greenberg Traurig advised that only the clerk in Washington County, in rural North Florida — named in Florida’s federal gay-marriage lawsuit — would be bound by a ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle of Tallahassee. All other Florida clerks who are not parties in the lawsuit, could face “a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment of not more than one year and a fine of not more than $1,000” if they went ahead and married same-sex couples, according to Greenberg Traurig.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/gay-south-florida/article4502107.html