Without the stay, District Court judges will have to proceed with a ruling on the state’s gay marriage ban.
“We’re as close as we’ve ever been,” said Mike Meno, spokesman for North Carolina’s American Civil Liberties Union. “We’re not talking about weeks and months and years; we’re talking about hours and days.”
The judge’s decision came in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s move Monday to let stand rulings striking down gay marriage bans in five states. One of the rulings came from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, of which North Carolina is a part, thus setting a legally binding precedent in the state’s courts.
“It’s almost a certainty that he’s going to declare not only the constitutional amendment in North Carolina but also our statutes that deal with this issue unconstitutional,” said Steve Nickles, a law professor at Wake Forest University.
The Supreme Court’s move on Monday has had a domino-like effect on gay-marriage bans nationwide — but in many states, the process has been fraught with conflict and confusion.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned gay marriage bans in Nevada and Idaho Wednesday morning, but Idaho officials requested an emergency stay from the Supreme Court, which was granted temporarily.