Schuylkill County Register of Wills Theresa Santai-Gaffney asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to do what two lower courts would not: Allow her to challenge the ruling overturning Pennsylvania's statute barring same-sex marriage.
Santai-Gaffney asked the nation's highest court to halt same-sex marriages in the state while she prepared her legal challenge to the decision of the judge, also from Schuylkill County, that legalized them.
There was no indication of when the Supreme Court might hear her appeal. It has no obligation to do so.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Pennsylvania since U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III, who lives in Pottsville but whose chambers are in Harrisburg, struck down a state ban on May 20.
Gov. Tom Corbett's administration declined to appeal Jones' decision. However, Santai-Gaffney wants Pennsylvania to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses while she appeals the ruling.
Jones decided on June 18 that Santai-Gaffney did not have the legal right to challenge his decision and dismissed her appeal. He ruled Santai-Gaffney's duty to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples was clear and her personal opposition to such marriages did not give her a legally recognizable interest in the matter.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling on Thursday.
On Thursday, Santai-Gaffney had said she was not surprised by the circuit court's ruling and that she would seek Supreme Court intervention.