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Staff Counsel
Noel H. Johnson
Kaylan L. Phillips
Joseph A. Vanderhulst

Of Counsel
Cleta Mitchell

February 4, 2015
Patricia S. Connor, Clerk of Court
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit
Lewis F. Powell, Jr., United States Court House Annex
1100 East Main Street, Suite 501
Richmond, Virginia 23219-3517
Re: General Synod of the United Church of Christ, et al. v. Tillis, et al.,
No. 14-2225 (L)
Dear Ms. Connor,
Pursuant to FRAP 28(j) and Local Rule 28(e), Appellants alert the Court of a
recent order from the Supreme Court granting petitions for writs of certiorari in
four cases presenting substantially similar issues as presented in this appeal, and
supporting their request for a stay of proceedings (Doc. #23), which this Court
denied on January 5, 2015 (Doc. #30).
On January 16, 2015, the Supreme Court consolidated and granted the
petitions for writs of certiorari in four cases from the Sixth Circuit Court of
Appeals. Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015 U.S. LEXIS 618 (Jan. 16, 2015); Tanco v.
Haslam, 2015 U.S. LEXIS 622 (Jan. 16, 2015); DeBoer v. Snyder, 2015 U.S.
LEXIS 624 (Jan. 16, 2015); Bourke v. Beshear, 2015 U.S. LEXIS 620 (Jan. 16,
2015). The aforementioned cases present the following questions:
1) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage
between two people of the same sex?

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2) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage

between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully
licensed and performed out-of-state?
The disposition of those cases will thus likely control the outcome of the
Plaintiff-Appellees constitutional claims. Moreover, an adverse decision could
make further appeal of the intervention issue futile. For the reasons stated in its
Motion for Stay of Proceedings, Appellants believe a stay of proceedings is
warranted if the Court is willing to consider a renewed request.
Sincerely,

Robert D. Potter, Jr.

Attorney at Law
NC State Bar No. 17553
5821 Fairview Road, Suite 207
Charlotte, NC 28209
(704) 552-7742
(704) 552-9287 Fax
rdpotter@rdpotterlaw.com

John C. Eastman
CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL
JURISPRUDENCE
c/o Chapman University Fowler
School of Law
One University Dr.
Orange, CA 92866
(877) 855-3330
(714) 844-4817 Fax
jeastman@chapman.edu
Lead Counsel
/s/ Noel H. Johnson
Noel H. Johnson
Joseph A. Vanderhulst
ACTRIGHT LEGAL FOUNDATION
209 West Main Street
Plainfield, IN 46168
(317) 203-5599
(888) 815-5641 Fax
njohnson@actrightlegal.org
jvanderhulst@actrightlegal.org

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CERTIFICATE OF WORD COUNT

In reliance on the word count feature of the word-processing system used to
prepare this letter, I hereby certify that the body of this letter contains 236 words,
which is no more than the 350 words allowed in Fed. R. App. P. 28(j).

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that on February 4, 2015, I electronically filed the foregoing
with the Clerk of the Court for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Circuit by using the CM/ECF system. I certify that all participants in the case who
are registered CM/ECF users will be served via the CM/ECF system.

s/ Noel H. Johnson
Noel H. Johnson