Wednesday evening, the Supreme Court issued a stay on Virginia issuing same-sex marriage certificates starting Thursday, as ordered by a federal court and upheld by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. The federal appellate court agreed on July 28 that Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, and declined to delay its ruling last week. The Supreme Court's one paragraph order says the stay will be in effect until the high court rules on the case or declines to hear it.
Confusingly, the stay was requested by Virginia's Democratic attorney general, Mark R. Herring, who supports same-sex marriage, believes the Virginia ban is unconstitutional, and is one of the people challenging it. Both opponents and backers of the law have asked the Supreme Court to use Virginia's law as a test case for the constitutionality of state gay-marriage bans, and Herring told reporters that the high court should decide that question before Virginia starts marrying same-sex couples.
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