Submitted by Anne H. Oman
Reporter-at-Large
December 23, 2014 1:00 a.m.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court last week denied Florida’s bid to stay its ban on same sex marriage, the Nassau County Clerk’s office will not be issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on January 6, according to an employee of the licensing office who declined to be identified in print.
“As of right now, “ she said, “we are following the advice of the FACC (the Florida Association of Clerks and Comptrollers) that we should not issue these licenses until there is a binding order by a court of jurisdiction.”
It is the position of the FACC that the Supreme Court ruling is “not binding on any person, including a clerk of court, who is not a named party in the action.”
The FACC, on the advice of its counsel, the national law firm Greenberg-Traurig, holds that the ruling applies only to the clerk of Washington County, in the Florida Panhandle. The law firm warned that other clerks who go ahead and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples would face fines or imprisonment.
But the advocacy group Equality Florida warned that clerks “have a legal obligation to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples – or face expensive litigation.”
Watch this space for further developments. But, for now, hold the wedding finery.
Editor’s Note: Anne H. Oman relocated to Fernandina Beach from Washington, D.C. Her articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Star, The Washington Times, Family Circle and other publications.
Hey, it’s Florida. Why should they abide by the Supreme Court. It’s really sad. It really isn’t an issue of if you are in favor of this law, it’s an issue of following the law. For a State that the vast majority of people follow the law why can’t we accept the ruling and move on?
“The law firm warned that other clerks who go ahead and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples would face fines or imprisonment.”
Stop the evildoers! Murica!
…it’s 2015, can we move on already? Let people be people.
Way to go, Nassau County. Let’s get the pants sued off of us and spend some of that excessive taxpayer money. What’s so hard to understand? SCOTUS has ruled. It’s a done deal. Come out of your cave and into the sunlight. Must we be made the butt of jokes because of your intransigence?
A really dumb position taken by FACC. which will lead to expensive and ultimately unsuccessful litigation on their part. They tried the same tack in South Carolina and quickly got shot down.
I have never seen a City and County so determined to stay in constant litigation . . . how pathetic!!
Does John Crawford really still get legal advice from Greenberg-Traurig? Their bad legal advice already cost all of us almost $100,000 when he decided to fight the judiciary over a $4,500 invoice. Enough is enough. The County will have to follow the law regardless if anyone agrees or not so let’s not waste taxpayer money.
Just another example of a power broker in our county that thinks he is immune to the law. He doesn’t like it, he hires a buddy at a Tallahassee law firm to show how he can be right! Folks, you got to get rid of this guy in 2 years! If not, he will continue to spend our money to make his points, which are most of the time, wrong!
Shame on you, John Crawford. A pitiful last ditch effort to deny people their legal rights. The Supreme Court has spoken. Get on the right side of history for once.