The South Carolina Supreme Court is ordering state probate courts not to issue same-sex marriage licenses until a federal judge decides whether the state constitution's ban on the unions is legal.
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.