Supreme Court, Federal Judge Hear Arguments In Same-Sex Marriage Cases

Elicia Dover with our content partner, KATV Ch. 7 News, reports:

The Arkansas Supreme Court will decide whether or not to uphold circuit Judge Chris Piazza’s ruling, overturning the state’s ban of same-sex marriage.

The legal counsel representing those for and against same-sex marriage met in the state’s Supreme Court Thursday morning to argue their stances.

Lawyers for the state’s attorney general office argued that voters passed an amendment in 2004 to block same-sex marriages and their vote should stand.

“Who decides whether or when and how to effectuate change…7 justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court or over 700,000 voters of Arkansas. The citizens of Arkansas have a legitimate interest, indeed a fundamental right to define marriage through the democratic process,” said Assistant Arkansas Attorney General Colin Jorgenson.

But the attorneys hoping the court upholds the lower court ruling, Jack Wagner and Cheryl Maples, argued that the majority cannot rule over a minority.

“You can’t amend away my federal constitutional rights. Imagine this. What if the people went to the polls and said everybody has to join the Baptist church? Is that the end of it? The courts can’t review that? No. It would clearly be a violation of the freedom of religion,” said Jack Wagner, attorney for the appellees.

Same-sex marriage was also argued before a federal judge Thursday by the same legal counsel. Plaintiffs in that case were emotional in court and hoping for an outcome.

“We’ve been doing the same thing over and over and we’re hoping for an answer pretty quickly,” said plaintiff Kimberly Kidwell.

The attorney’s defending the state’s law did not comment. The judge in the federal case and the justices at the Arkansas Supreme Court are expected to rule within a few weeks.

You can watch a video report from Dover or read viewer comments at this link.