LITTLE ROCK, AR – There’s a new development in the Arkansas same-sex marriage case before the state’s highest court.
The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled today that its current seven members should decide the new, secondary case created in April that challenges the state’s ban on gay marriage.
Chief Justice Jim Hannah and Justice Paul Danielson had previously recused themselves from hearing the secondary case.
Also in April, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed a motion stating that the matter should be reargued and that the current members of the court should decide the new case.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs’ in the case at first objected to the new panel deciding the case, but then had a change of heart.
So, what happens now? Our content partner the Arkansas Blog (Arkansas Times) says “either the current Court will conference again, vote again, assign a majority opinion again and so forth, or it’ll ask for oral arguments again. In either case, don’t expect a decision before the U.S. Supreme Court has its say.”
Late last month in Washington, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) heard historic arguments over same-sex marriage, with justices drilling lawyers on opposing sides on the power of states to prohibit gay unions. SCOTUS is expected to make a decision on the case by late June.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge issued the following statement this afternoon about the court’s ruling:
“I am pleased that the Arkansas Supreme Court has resolved this issue and has agreed with the State that only the Justices currently sitting on the Court can decide the same-sex marriage case. My office stands ready to defend Amendment 83 in a second oral argument should the Justices decide that it would be beneficial.”Click here to read the court’s May 7 concurrence in the case or see it attached above.
Click here to read the court’s May 7 opinion in the case or see it attached above.