Lawyers: Don't suspend gay-marriage ruling

Attorney Jack Wagoner is interviewed after a hearing in the Pulaski County Court House in Little Rock, Ark., Thursday, April 17, 2014. Wagoner represented advocates of ending Arkansas' ban on same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Attorney Jack Wagoner is interviewed after a hearing in the Pulaski County Court House in Little Rock, Ark., Thursday, April 17, 2014. Wagoner represented advocates of ending Arkansas' ban on same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

Attorneys for a group of same-sex couples are asking Arkansas' highest court to reject efforts to suspend a judge's ruling striking down the state's gay-marriage ban.

Attorneys for the couples asked the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to deny motions to stay Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza's decision striking down the 2004 constitutional amendment and 1997 law banning same-sex marriage. The attorney general and four counties named in the suit have asked justices to suspend Piazza's ruling.

About 300 same-sex couples have received marriage licenses since Piazza's ruling, though two of the four counties that had been issuing the licenses said Tuesday they would stop.

The attorneys argue the state hasn't shown irreparable harm will result if Piazza's order stands.

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