The state of Louisiana agrees with gay-rights activists about one thing: asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take the rare step of hearing an appeal of Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriages before a federal appeals court rules.
The Associated Press reports the request filed this week by Washington attorney Kyle Duncan asks the justices to hear appeals of Louisiana’s case and the only other federal court decision to uphold gay marriage bans. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is to hear Louisiana’s appeal and one from Texas on Jan. 9.
“We likely won’t know whether the Supreme Court will take up any of the pending petitions until mid-January at the earliest. By then, we will have already argued the Fifth Circuit case,” Duncan writes in an email to The Associated Press.
In his request, Duncan says he agrees with gay-rights activists that Louisiana’s case and the Cincinnati appellate court ruling should be considered together. When that application was filed in November, Duncan said that unless the high court intervened, he would continue in appellate court. He says he hasn’t changed his mind on that. Read the full story.
