Same-sex marriage is legal as of noon on November 20, 2014. The ruling of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Bostic v. Rainey, which found Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, has been binding precedent on the courts of South Carolina since the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in the case on October 6, 2014. The state had not been ordered to cease enforcement of its ban on same-sex marriage. Two judges accepted marriage license applications from same-sex couples until the state South Carolina Supreme Court, in response to a request by the state Attorney General, ordered them to stop. A federal court ruled South Carolina's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional on November 12, with implementation of that decision stayed until noon on November 20.