SOUTH CAROLINA: State Supreme Court Meets As License Deadline Passes
UPDATE: State Supremes Halt Licenses

Yesterday more than a dozen same-sex couples were issued marriage license applications in South Carolina. The one day waiting period for the licenses to become valid elapsed at 9AM.  The local ABC News affiliate reports on Twitter that the state Supreme Court is meeting right now to consider state Attorney General Alan Wilson’s motion to block those licenses. Stand by….

UPDATE: No validation and no more license applications until the state Supreme Court rules. Via the Associated Press:

A judge in Charleston says he will wait for the South Carolina Supreme Court to rule before he issues any same-sex marriage licenses. Probate Court Judge Irving Condon issued a statement late Thursday morning saying the justices asked him to wait until they can consider the case before any licenses are issued. Attorney General Alan Wilson had asked the justices to block the issuance of any licenses. It was not clear when the Supreme Court would act. It was hearing regularly scheduled cases Thursday. Nichols Bleckley, part of one of the first couples to be approved by the judge Wednesday, said she is disappointed the decision, but knows she and Charleston County Councilwoman Colleen Condon will get their license eventually. Colleen Condon asked to intervene in the case Thursday.

UPDATE II: The state Supreme Court has ordered that no more licenses be issued until a ruling is issued in the marriage equality case currently before a federal court.



The justices issued a ruling late Thursday morning, a day after Probate Court Judge Irving Condon began accepting applications for the licenses. He based the move on a ruling overturning Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban by a court with jurisdiction over South Carolina. The Supreme Court’s order disappointed dozens of gay couples in a whirlwind week of legal maneuvers. Attorney General Alan Wilson had asked the justices to block the issuance of any licenses. Meanwhile, a case from a couple who were married in Washington, D.C., and want to be recognized in South Carolina and have the ban overturned is before a federal judge.