Rutledge Pleased Outgoing AG Appealing Same-Sex Marriage Ruling

Outgoing Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced on Tuesday his intent to appeal a federal judge in Little Rock’s decision striking down Arkansas’s ban on same-sex marriage. McDaniel said he had hoped the state Supreme Court would have ruled, suggesting it may have affected his decision to appeal, before Friday’s deadline for a federal appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri.

KUAR’s Jacob Kauffman spoke with the state’s next attorney general, Leslie Rutledge, who will take McDaniel’s position and the cases on same-sex marriage in mid-January.

KAUFFMAN: Headed into the New Year we still are awaiting a ruling from the state Supreme Court on a lower court’s decision striking down Arkansas’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Outgoing AG Dustin McDaniel has announced he’ll be appealing a separate, federal ruling.

You’ll be in handling all of this come January. What can you do, or argue in court, that others haven’t? 18 states this year have had same-sex marriage legalized.

RUTLEDGE: The most important thing is to continue the cases that the current Attorney General, General McDaniel, his office has filed and defending our constitutional amendment defining marriage. These cases are…we have great lawyers at the attorney general’s office that have been working on these. I was pleased that General McDaniel went ahead an filed that notice of appeal in the federal case on the marriage amendment. I am confident and hopeful that the Arkansas Supreme Court will uphold the definition of marriage.

KAUFFMAN: Going forward, if the Arkansas Supreme Court does decide to reaffirm the lower court’s ruling would you still want to proceed with the federal appeal?

RUTLEDGE: I think that’s something we have to look at, at the time. Again, I think it’s going to come down to what specifically the court rules on vs., you know, will they strike it down or uphold, or you know what parts of it? Often times Jacob, in these cases you see where a court may rule on a very small issue in a case but it won’t affect the overall nature of the law, of the amendment etc. I think we’re just going to have to wait and see what the Arkansas Supreme Court decides.

We’re going to move forward, I was pleased like I said that General McDaniel filed that notice of appeal. I look forward to handling those cases and working with the attorneys on staff at the AG’s office and making sure we defend Arkansas’s constitutional definition of marriage.

Read more of Kauffman’s interview with Rutledge or listen to a mp3 version of the interview at this link.