Michael Biesecker

Associated Press

RALEIGH – The judge overseeing a pair of challenges to North Carolina's gay marriage ban has asked for more briefs in the case, setting a new deadline for early next week.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge William Osteen Jr. in Greensboro issued a Friday afternoon order asking for answers to a series of questions and setting a deadline of 3 p.m. Monday to receive responses. The delay was met with disappointment among scores of same-sex couples who had spent hours lined up at county courthouses across the state, awaiting a ruling allowing them to marry.

Osteen has appeared poised to strike down the marriage ban approved by North Carolina voters in 2012 since Wednesday, when he issued an order lifting his stays and dismissing all prior motions. But Republican legislators filed motions Thursday seeking to intervene in the case after the state's Democratic attorney general concluded that all possible legal defenses had been exhausted.

House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger filed their answer shortly before a noon deadline imposed by Osteen.

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, which represents nine same-sex couples challenging the ban, has filed a request seeking a quick ruling after the U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it would not hear appeals of decisions striking down similar marriage prohibitions in other states.

Osteen has delayed making a decision since July, when the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Virginia's gay marriage ban. The appeals court in Richmond has jurisdiction over North Carolina, and Osteen is required to follow its ruling.

The Republican lawmakers are not party to the lawsuits, which have been winding their way through the courts for more than a year.

In their filings Friday, lawyers for the Republican leaders asked for a hearing before the judge. They say the recent 4th Circuit ruling is in error and that Osteen should follow the precedent set in a 40-plus-year-old Supreme Court ruling upholding a Minnesota law requiring that marriage be between a man and woman.

However, the GOP brief appears to ignore the high court's 2013 decision striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. That ruling is cited by the 4th Circuit and other courts that have struck down marriage bans like the one in North Carolina.

Tillis, who is running for U.S. Senate, said in a debate this week that he felt obligated to defend the will of North Carolina voters against "liberal activist judges." The recent rulings striking down gay marriage bans across the nation as unconstitutional have been handed down by federal judges appointed by presidents from both parties.

Tillis and Berger have hired California lawyer John C. Eastman, chairman of the conservative National Organization for Marriage. The group describes itself as a defender of traditional family values and the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman. However, advocacy organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center portray NOM as a homophobic hate group.

The Republicans also are seeking to intervene in a third case filed by members of the clergy seeking to marry gay couples. That U.S. District Court Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr., in Asheville.

Despite the last-minute legal effort by Tillis and Berger, public officials across the state are preparing for an expected surge of same-sex couples seeking to get married if a ruling comes down ending the state ban.

Several county registers of deeds have been pressing the state Department of Health and Human Services to provide gender-neutral marriage license application forms and update computer software to accommodate processing same sex couples. The state agency has refused.

"At this time, N.C. DHHS is bound by existing state law and has no legal authority to issue a gender-neutral form in the absence of a court order or a statutory change," Josh Ellis, spokesman for Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, said Thursday. "As the governor said today, he continues to respect the legal process and will uphold the constitution as he's sworn to do."

In Raleigh, Wake County Register of Deeds Laura M. Riddick has already modified her agency's online marriage application from "Groom" and "Bride" to include blanks for "Applicant 1" and "Applicant 2."

"Particularly once it became clear that the U.S. Supreme Court was allowing same-gender marriage to go forward throughout the 4th Circuit, there was no legitimate rationale - if there ever had been - to withhold the form," said Riddick, a Republican. "I apologize to our customers for any confusion or frustration the state's inaction may cause them if we receive a court order to begin issuing same-gender marriages."