Hate Group Files Stay Request with SCOTUS in Virginia Marriage Case

While not yet officially designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ludicrously named Alliance Defending Freedom - which claims it fights fro religious freedom but in reality works to force Christofascist beliefs on all Americans - has filed an Application for a Stay of Mandate with the U.S. Supreme Court in Bostic v. Rainey, et al., after the United States Court of Appeal for the fourth Circuit refused to stay its ruling that Virginia's bans on same sex marriage are unconstitutional under the U. S. Constitution.  ADF is representing nasty bigot Prince William County Circuit Court Clerk, Michele McQuigg who wants to keep LGBT Virginians inferior under the law because we do not subscribe to her hate and fear based religious beliefs.  The good news is that ADF has a profound track record of losing cases.  The bad news is that many speculate that the Supreme Court will grant a stay pending an appeal from the 4th Circuit.   The full application can be seen here.  Here are further details from the Washington Blade:

The court clerk defending Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage filed a petition on Thursday with the U.S. Supreme Court calling on justices to block a lower court decision allowing gay couples to wed in the Old Dominion starting next week.

“Unless this Court issues the stay requested here and makes clear that the courts of appeals should stay their mandates in these cases, it is likely that other circuits will mistakenly follow the Fourth Circuit’s lead,” the brief states. “Yet that would invite needless chaos and uncertainty rather than facilitate the orderly and dignified resolution of a constitutional question of enormous national importance.”

The brief, signed by Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Byron Babione, argues the Supreme Court should grant a stay because justices are likely to consider take up a same-sex marriage case on appeal with a fair prospect of reversing lower court decisions overturning bans on gay nuptials.

Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, same-sex couples could start obtaining marriage licenses from clerks’ offices in Virginia after the Fourth Circuit issues the mandate on its decision, which is set to occur 8 am on August 21.

The petition from Alliance Defending Freedom was delivered to Chief Justice John Roberts, who’s responsible for stay requests for the Fourth Circuit. Roberts can decide the matter on his own, or refer the request to the entire court.

It remains to be seen what action the Supreme Court will take, but justices have previously granted stays on similar decisions in favor of marriage equality.

Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, nonetheless said he sees room for the Supreme Court to deny a stay this time around in the Virginia case.

“A lot has changed since the Court issued a stay in Kitchen, which was the first district court decision in the entire country striking down a state marriage ban after Windsor,” Minter said. “There are now many other such decisions, in every corner of the nation. The Court could decide that a stay is no longer warranted.”

In the event the Supreme Court declines to issue a stay, the Virginia decision would become binding precedent in the Fourth Circuit. Minter said whether clerks in other Fourth Circuit states — West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina — would then have the authority to distribute marriage licenses to same-sex couples “would depend on the specifics of state law.”

“But whether immediately or with some short delay to get implementing orders, I expect that marriages would commence in those states very quickly,” Minter said.

Michelle McQuigg - the face of anti-gay hate