U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle ruled New Year's Day that all Florida clerks are bound by the U.S. Constitution not to enforce Florida's gay marriage ban and that any couple seeking a license on Tuesday should receive one.
“The preliminary injunction now in effect thus does not require the Clerk to issue licenses to other applicants,” Hinkle wrote in an order released Thursday afternoon. “But as set out in the order that announced issuance of the preliminary injunction, the Constitution requires the Clerk to issue such licenses.”
Said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida:
“He agreed with us that the constitution requires every clerk in the state issue a license. His injunction has statewide impact because he found the law unconstitutional and therefore as we have been saying, no public official should be acting in accordance with an unconstitutional provision,” Simon said. “In non-legalese: Come Tuesday, Jan. 6, every clerk has an obligation under the U.S. Constitution to issue marriage license to all couples requesting one.”
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