Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza will consider the fate of a lawsuit challenging Arkansas’ ban on same-sex marriage at a Dec. 12 hearing.
The judge on Wednesday scheduled the proceeding to hear defense arguments on why the lawsuit should be dismissed and the plaintiffs’ case for why the prohibitions should be immediately suspended, ahead of a trial on the merits of the 4-month-old suit. An immediate decision is not expected.
After a favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June, the 43 plaintiffs - 19 of whom have been married in other jurisdictions - petitioned the judge to immediately bar authorities from continuing to enforce prohibitions on gay marriage.
The defendants - the state Department of Finance and Administration, the state Department of Health and seven county clerks who have refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex applicants - have two more weeks to file dismissal motions to the fourth version of the lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 30.
The lawsuit has expanded from 22 individuals - 11 couples - since it was filed July 1, six days after the Supreme Court ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act extended federal recognition to the legal marriages of same-sex couples.
The plaintiffs’ legal arguments have gone through several permutations before evolving into mainly a challenge of the state ban under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantees of due process and equal treatment.
The suit seeks to negate Amendment 83, a referendum passed with 75 percent of the vote in 2004, and legislation approved in 1997 to require Title 9, the family law portion of the Arkansas Code, to define marriage as the union between a man and a woman and prohibit the issuance of a marriage license to applicants who do not fit that definition.
The law, found in Arkansas Code Annotated 9-11-207 and 9-11-208, also prohibits the state from recognizing same sex marriages legitimized in other states or countries.
A federal lawsuit challenging the ban was filed in July, but the defendants, Gov. Mike Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, have not responded.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 10/17/2013