COEUR d'ALENE - Kootenai County Clerk Jim Brannon said he intends to follow the law after the courts settle the issue of gay marriage in Idaho.

"I took an oath to uphold the law and that is what I intend to do," Brannon said in an interview Thursday afternoon.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the state's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.

But early Wednesday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued an order blocking enforcement of the appellate court ruling.

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden's office said Wednesday that Wasden intends to file a motion asking for an en banc hearing with the appeals court, which asks that the decision be reviewed by a panel of 11 judges from the 9th Circuit. The initial ruling came from a panel of three judges.

"That could be an entirely different ruling," Brannon said.

Hopeful couples came to some Idaho courthouses early Wednesday, before Kennedy's order came through.

Brannon said nobody came into the Kootenai County Courthouse Wednesday, but the recorder's office did get one telephone inquiry about the issue. That caller was told there was a stay in place until the state figures out how to proceed, Brannon said.

"We just don't know anything more than what everyone else knows at this point," he said. "I am pretty sure the state will appeal, but I am not certain about that."

Brannon said he is not interested in speculating on what may happen, because he is not an attorney.

"My day has been full of real problems, not hypothetical ones," he added.

Brannon said until he hears something from the attorney general or the secretary of state, he is going to be "on pins and needles" like everyone else.

"Everyone is interested in this," he said. "We have to see what the secretary of state and the attorney general's office has to say about it.

"I take my direction from them, so that is what we are prepared to do."