Wright v. Arkansas

A former Supreme Court justice who helped strike down Arkansas’ ban on gay foster parents and an ex-legislator who tried to reinstate that prohibition were appointed Tuesday to help decide a case related to the challenge over same-sex marriage.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he’ll quickly appoint three special justices to hear a case a majority of the state Supreme Court says must be addressed before they can rule on whether to legalize same-sex marriage.

The couples challenging Arkansas’ same-sex marriage ban are asking the state’s highest court to lift its stay in the case and allow clerks to resume issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

An attorney representing same-sex couples in Arkansas says her clients who received marriage licenses are “stuck in limbo” while state and federal courts consider whether gay marriage should be legal in the state.

The Arkansas Supreme Court wants lawyers in a same-sex marriage case to tell it which justices they believe should decide the issue.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to hold new oral arguments in the lawsuit challenging the state’s same-sex marriage ban.

The Arkansas Supreme Court’s biggest piece of unfinished business as it wraps up 2014 is whether the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A top official in Arkansas’ most populous county said Wednesday that his office is prepared to issue licenses if same-sex marriage returns to the Bible Belt. Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane’s statements came a day after a federal judge tossed the state’s gay marriage ban, saying …

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Challenges to the state’s ban on gay marriage are being fought in both federal and state courtrooms in Arkansas, but such unions could come to the state by other means. No decisions were issued after the state Supreme Court and U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker heard arguments in separate but similar lawsuits Thursday.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Supreme Court justices questioned Thursday whether banning gay marriage is constitutional just because voters overwhelmingly wanted to a decade ago, even if the restriction conflicts with other fundamental rights. Opponents and supporters of the 2004 constitutional amendment defining marriage as between …

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arguments are set in two Arkansas courtrooms on whether the state should drop its prohibition against same-sex marriages.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas’ highest court and a federal judge will hear arguments this week over the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, a decade after voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Attorneys for the state and a group of gay couples are scheduled to appear before the …

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.

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’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…

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Supreme Court has refused to delay proceedings in a lawsuit challenging the legality of the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Earlier this year, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel asked the court to put the case on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court rules in challenges involving other states…

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Gov. Mike Beebe has named a retired judge from Harrison to fill in as a special justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court in the lawsuit challenging the state’s same-sex marriage ban. eebe on Wednesday named retired Judge Robert W. McCorkindale to serve on the court as it considers whether to uphold the 2004 constitutional …

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An Arkansas Supreme Court justice has been accused of having an inappropriate conversation with a state lawmaker about an issue set to go before the court. The state’s judicial oversight committee said it’s investigating a complaint against Justice Cliff Hoofman…

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The attorney general’s office is asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to uphold the state’s gay marriage ban, arguing a county judge was wrong to say it violated the state and U.S. constitutions. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s office on Monday asked justices to uphold the 2004 constitutional amendment and an earlier state law..

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas’ highest court has denied a request by same-sex couples challenging the state’s gay marriage ban that any justices planning to seek re-election recuse themselves from the case. The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday denied the motion asking any justice expecting to run for re-election anytime in the future to consider not hearing the appeal …

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Lawyers representing couples who are challenging Arkansas’ gay-marriage ban are asking the state Supreme Court to deny the state’s request to delay proceedings until the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a similar same-sex marriage case. A judge in Pulaski County threw out the state’s ban on gay marriage in May, and more than 500 same-sex couples …