A St. Louis-based federal appeals court will hear gay marriage cases from South Dakota, Arkansas and Missouri.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request to consider an appeal from South Dakota, which is fighting a federal judge’s decision to overturn the state’s gay marriage ban.
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley — who will combine the arguments with cases from Arkansas and Missouri — will hear the arguments the week of May 11 in Omaha, Neb., the Associated Press reported.
Jackley, whose court is St. Louis-based, said he will work with the Missouri and Arkansas attorney generals to defend their gay marriage bans.
Elsewhere, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange asked the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to allow the state to block the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ refusal to issue a stay on a district judge’s decision overturning the state’s same-sex marriage ban.
Strange hopes that the Supreme Court will intervene before gay couples are able to marry in Alabama on Monday. If the high court intervenes, Strange wants Alabama to then wait until the Supreme Court makes a decision later in the year on same-sex marriage.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on same-sex marriage in April and could release a decision on the issue by June.
