LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas’ highest court will hear oral arguments in a case challenging the state’s gay marriage ban on the same day a federal judge takes up a separate case over the prohibition.
The state Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to expedite the case and scheduled oral arguments for Nov. 20 in the state’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling against the ban.
Lawyers for the state are appealing a Pulaski County judge’s ruling in May striking down a 2004 constitutional amendment and an earlier state law that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
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The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you.The decision led to hundreds of gay couples being wed before the state Supreme Court suspended his ruling.
A federal judge will also hold a hearing in a separate lawsuit over the ban Nov. 20.
The state case (Pulaski County) is Wright v. Arkansas, and the federal case is Jernigan v. Crane.
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