Appeals court to hear South Dakota, Arkansas, Missouri gay marriage cases

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“It’s just difficult to predict what’s going to happen here – if the Supreme Court could do something that would make these cases moot or change the issues in them. And I really just don’t know how this is all going to play out,” Gans said.

In South Dakota, same-sex marriages are still illegal. U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier sided in favor of the six couples who sued in May in Sioux Falls, but stayed her decision pending appeals.

In Missouri, St. Louis and Jackson counties and the city of St. Louis began issuing same-sex marriage licenses last year because of various court rulings. The rest of the state’s 112 counties have opted not to, pending resolution of the legal challenges.

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And in Arkansas, U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker ruled in November that Arkansas’ gay-marriage ban and a separate law restricting marriages to one man and one woman were unconstitutional, but she delayed enforcement of her order pending appeals.

Jackley, in South Dakota, also said the 8th Circuit needs to take up the issue to resolve conflicting rulings in the circuit. In 2006, the appeals court affirmed Nebraska’s right to ban same-sex marriages.

“And so that needs to be resolved within the circuit, and the best place for that would be the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals,” Jackley said.