Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and
Attorney General Jim Hood have asked a federal appeals court to stay
a federal judge's ruling striking down the state's ban on gay
marriage as an appeal is pursued.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge
Carlton Reeves struck down Mississippi's ban, saying that the 2004
amendment to the Mississippi Constitution violates the Fourteenth
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Without a permanent stay, Reeves'
temporary stay is set to expire on December 9.
Bryant and Hood asked the Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals in New Orleans to block the ruling no later than
December 8.
The Fifth Circuit will early next year
review similar challenges to marriage bans in Texas and Louisiana.
The hearing comes nearly 11 months after a federal judge declared
Texas' ban invalid.
“Putting Mississippi on different
legal footing than Louisiana and Texas in the context of same-sex
marriage would disserve the public interest, especially with this
Court poised and prepared to resolve this issue,” the state argued
in its filing. “Same-sex marriages in those states are not
currently permitted in this Circuit.”
Mississippi argued that it wanted to
avoid the “recent debacle in the State of Utah that resulted from
the courts' 'on-again, off-again' treatment of same-sex marriage.”
“[T]his Court should take action to
prevent Mississippi from having to endure the same experience,”
officials said.