An updated schedule has been released in the state’s suit against a Montgomery County official who denied the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.
MontCo Register of Wills D. Bruce Hanes and his team will likely not be back in court until after the New Year.
The state Supreme Court this week asked the county to file its next legal brief by Dec. 2, The state will then be given its own time period to draft and submit its own brief before a hearing is scheduled.
The state Department of Health sued Hanes this past summer after he began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Commonwealth Court Judge Dan Pellegrini ordered Hanes to stop in September, although he did not rule on the constitutionality of the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.
Hanes appealed the judge’s order, specifically arguing that the judge should have weighed in on his contention that he could not follow the state ban because it is unconstitutional.
Pellegrini also did not rule on the validity of the 174 licenses that were issued and filed. Twenty-one of those couples went on to sue the state for recognition of their marriages in a case that remains pending before Commonwealth Court.