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Florida attorney general says state wants to defer to Supreme Court on marriage
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has filed two motions at the state appeals court level asking for a freeze on reviews of the state constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage.
Bondi, a Republican seeking re-election in November, wants the marriage issue to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and, until then, she wants an end to the judicial reviews in Florida.
Judges in four counties in Florida have ruled that the anti-gay ban approved by voters in 2008 in the form of a constitutional amendment is not constitutional.
Bondi has formally appealed in one case and was expected to appeal the other rulings.
Now she says the state wants to defer to the U.S. Supreme Court and that further considerations at the state level waste resources. Utah and Oklahoma have asked the nation’s highest court to review decisions overturning constitutional amendments in those states. A Virginia equality case also is expected to be taken to the Supreme Court.
Nadine Smith of Equality Florida called Bondi’s move a “desperate stall tactic” and said in a statement that “delaying may be an election strategy for her but it is a hardship for our families who have waited far too long.”
