The deadline for each side to issue legal briefs is Friday, and Walker could rule on an extension at any time after that.
Theodore Boutrous Jr. of the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, which represents same-sex couples in the case, told Reuters that “our plan is to oppose a stay.”
Even if Walker decides to lift the stay, an appeal to the 9th Circuit by the measure’s supporters would put the judge’s ruling on hold, meaning the battle is expected to continue for months to come, experts said.
Boutrous said plaintiffs intend to ask the appeals court to hear the case on a fast schedule.
Meanwhile, the issue is certain to make the agenda of many congressional and state elections in the fall, which is exactly what the Democrats and President Barack Obama, who has said he opposes legalizing gay marriage, had hoped to avoid.
Already in California, Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown, who are running for governor, released statements staking out essentially opposite sides of the issue, with Brown in favor of the ruling and Whitman opposed. . .
