TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is filing an emergency petition to try to keep the state's gay marriage ban in place past Jan. 5.
Bondi on Monday filed a request with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Thomas oversees emergency appeals from Florida, Alabama and Georgia.
A federal appeals court in Atlanta refused earlier this month to extend past Jan. 5 a hold on a ruling that declared Florida's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. The decision possibly brings same-sex weddings one step closer to reality in the state.
But Bondi's office said that the state's ban needs to stay in place to avoid confusion while it appeals the ruling. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in August ruled the voter approved ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.
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