“While a party is certainly free to argue against precedent, even very recent precedent, the Fourth Circuit has exhaustively addressed the issues raised by Defendants and firmly and unambiguously recognized a fundamental right of same sex couples to marry and the power of the federal courts to address and vindicate that right,” Gergel writes.

Marriage equality is coming to South Carolina after a federal district judge struck down the state's same-sex marriage ban. District Judge Richard Mark Gergel cited the Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which had earlier ruled for marriage equality in Virginia and which is also the appeals court for South Carolina:The decision is stayed until November 20, so couples have just over a week to make their plans and choose their outfits if they want to be among the first. Happily, the situation being what it is at the appeals court level, and the Supreme Court having refused to hear an appeal of the 4th Circuit's decision, it's pretty well a lock that that November 20 date will hold and marriages can go forward.