FLORIDA: AG Pam Bondi Files Motion Opposing Lift Of Stay On Marriage Ruling

As most expected, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi just filed her motion in opposition to the ACLU's demand for the lifting of a federal court's stay on its ruling to overturn the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

There is a great public interest in stability of the law. If Florida’s law is going to change in the substantial manner plaintiffs seek, it should be only after the plaintiffs’ legal claims undergo appellate review. If the Eleventh Circuit reverses, and if people married in the meantime, those new marriages would be subject to uncertainty. No one benefits from on-again off-again marriage laws. This Court also recognized the “substantial public interest in allowing those who would enter same-sex marriages the same opportunity for due deliberation that opposite-sex couples routinely are afforded. Encouraging a rush to the marriage officiant, in an effort to get in before an appellate court enters a stay, serves the interests of nobody.” The same is true if those efforts are to rush to the marriage officiant before the Eleventh Circuit rules on the merits.

Read the full motion at Equality Case Files.