McDaniel again asks for stay of gay-marriage ruling

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel is again asking the state's highest court to suspend a ruling striking down a gay-marriage ban, saying it's led to "pervasive" confusion among county clerks.

McDaniel's office on Wednesday told the Arkansas Supreme Court that the stay of Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza's ruling against the gay marriage ban is needed because some clerks have been issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

"Other clerks have concluded that Amendment 83 continues to prohibit the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses," Assistant Attorney General Colin R. Jorgensen wrote in the response from McDaniel's office. "Confusion is pervasive, and this Court should exercise its superintending authority over circuit courts to issue a stay."

About 400 licenses have been issued so far, mostly in Pulaski and Washington counties.

McDaniel was responding to a motion to dismiss his appeal of Piazza's Friday ruling. Lawyers challenging the ban said the appeal is premature because no final order has been filed.

McDaniel said he wouldn't object to dismissing the appeal on those grounds if a stay is issued.

A spokesman for the state Supreme Court said it wasn't clear when a decision on the stay would come.

Arkansas Online contributed to this story

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