News (USA)

Arkansas AG says he doesn’t object to expediting same-sex marriage case

Arkansas AG says he doesn’t object to expediting same-sex marriage case

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas attorney general’s office says it doesn’t object to the state’s highest court moving quickly on a lawsuit challenging a gay marriage ban.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel (D-Ark.)
Attorney General Dustin McDaniel (D-Ark.) AP

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s office on Tuesday told the Arkansas Supreme Court it doesn’t object to a request by a group of same-sex couples challenging the ban to expedite the case before the high court.

The state is appealing a Pulaski County judge’s ruling in May striking down a 2004 constitutional amendment and earlier state law defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza’s decision led to hundreds of gay couples being wed before the state Supreme Court suspended his ruling.

The court has said it’ll hold oral arguments in the case, but hasn’t set a date.

On Monday, a federal judge set a hearing for Nov. 20 in a separate federal court challenge to Arkansas’ gay marriage ban.

The state case (Pulaski County) is Wright v. Arkansas, and the federal case is Jernigan v. Crane.

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